People v. Hillhouse

• Decision Date: 25 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. S029384.,S029384.
• Citation: 117 Cal.Rptr.2d 45,40 P.3d 754,27 Cal.4th 469
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Danny Ray HILLHOUSE, Defendant and Appellant.

117 Cal.Rptr.2d 45

27 Cal.4th 469

40 P.3d 754

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Danny Ray HILLHOUSE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S029384.

Supreme Court of California.

February 25, 2002.

Rehearing Denied May 15, 2002.

Andrew Parnes, Ketchum, and E. Evans Young, Oakland, under appointments by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen, Stephen G. Herndon and Paul E. O'Connor, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

CHIN, J.

A jury convicted defendant of the first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187),¹ robbery (§ 211), and kidnapping for robbery (§ 209, subd. (b)) of Brett Schultz and found true special circumstance allegations of lying in wait (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)), robbery murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)), and kidnapping murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). The jury also found that defendant personally used a deadly weapon, a knife, as to all counts. (§ 12022, subd. (b).) After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death, and the court imposed that sentence. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We reverse the kidnapping for robbery conviction and kidnapping-murder special circumstance and otherwise affirm the judgment.

I. Facts

A. Guilt Phase

1. Prosecution Evidence

The evidence showed that sometime during the night of March 8 or the morning of March 9, 1991, defendant and his brother, Lonnie Hillhouse, drove the victim, Brett Schultz, to a location in the Chico area, where, according to Lonnie, defendant stabbed him to death. Defendant and Lonnie took the victim's truck and other property. Lonnie was originally a codefendant in this case, but he pleaded guilty to second degree murder and testified at trial.

a. Lonnie Hillhouse's Testimony

Lonnie testified that on the evening of the crime, he and defendant went to the Madison Bear Garden, a bar in Chico. There they met the victim, Schultz, who purchased the three men a pitcher of beer, paying for it with a $100 bill. They also met Janice Murphy, who joined the group. Eventually, the group decided to leave the bar. Lonnie heard Schultz ask defendant to drive and saw him hand him some keys. The four left and entered Schultz's pickup truck. Defendant drove. Soon defendant started to drive the wrong way on a one-way street. Upset about this, Lonnie got out of the truck and walked to his apartment, leaving the other three behind. Christine Hoover and Debbie Dodge were in the apartment.

Later that night, Lonnie saw defendant and Schultz sitting in the same truck outside his apartment. Shortly after that, defendant came to speak with Lonnie in the apartment. Defendant asked Lonnie if he "wanted to be with the big boys," to which he responded yes. Defendant said, "this guy's got some money out here and I am going to kill him and take it." He asked Lonnie to go with him. When Lonnie said no, defendant looked at him and said, "I told you what I am going to do, and if you say anything to anybody, the same thing is going to happen to you." They then left in Schultz's truck, with defendant driving in the direction of Paradise. Schultz was sitting between Lonnie and defendant. Schultz was "passed out," apparently drunk. It was around midnight.

As they were driving, defendant asked Lonnie to "check his pockets." In response, Lonnie took some money—about "three or four bills wadded up"—from Schultz's pocket and gave it to defendant. The three stopped at a gas station in Paradise, where they purchased gasoline. When Lonnie paid for the gasoline, he wanted to tell the clerk to call the police, but he was afraid to do so. Then they continued driving. Schultz's condition was unchanged. At some point, Schultz "started coming to, and asked where we were going." Defendant told him they were going to his "wife's house to get some pot, and we would be back to Chico by morning or before work." (Defendant was unmarried.) As they kept driving, Schultz seemed to become more concerned about where they were going, and he asked defendant to turn the truck around. Defendant turned around and drove in the opposition direction. Schultz then asked to "pull over," so they stopped.

The three got out of the car. Schultz started urinating. Defendant walked around the back of the truck and approached Schultz. Lonnie testified, "[Defendant] said something that I didn't catch and [Schultz] said, `Don't fuck with me while I'm peeing,' and [defendant] said, `I ought to kill you.' And I heard a thunk and [Schultz] started gasping for air and I turned away." Lonnie observed Schultz "leaning against the door [of the truck] trying to keep from falling with his hands on his chest." Defendant "grabbed him and threw him to the ground." Lonnie seized Schultz by the arm and rolled him over. He observed blood on Schultz's chest and on defendant's hand. Defendant "said, `Why let him suffer,' and stuck [i.e., stabbed] him a couple more times." Lonnie heard Schultz again gasping for air.

Defendant asked Lonnie to help drag Schultz's body behind some trees. The two dragged the body until defendant said "this is good." Defendant then repositioned the truck so its headlights illuminated the body, and they moved the body a "foot or so" further up a hill. During the dragging, the body made no more sounds and did not move on its own. At defendant's request, Lonnie checked one of the body's pockets; defendant checked others. Lonnie did not remove anything and did not see defendant remove anything. The two drove back towards Paradise. On the way they stopped at a gas station—a different one than before—to wash their hands of blood. Defendant then drove to some friends' house. Defendant entered the house but returned to Lonnie in the truck about 10 or 15 minutes later. Defendant said they would have to return later in the morning "because he was told that he had a wife and kids and that he didn't want to be bothered or something...."

The two brothers commenced driving again, now towards Chico. On the way, defendant asked Lonnie to throw a knife out of the truck. In response, Lonnie took a knife from the seat where defendant had placed it and threw it from the car. Eventually the two drove to a friend's apartment in Chico. They parked the truck a couple of blocks away and, at defendant's direction, wiped fingerprints from it. They then went to sleep. A couple of days later, defendant and defendant's acquaintance, Gary Reep, went with Lonnie to a pawnshop where, at defendant's and Reep's direction, Lonnie pawned some tools that defendant said belonged to Reep. They told Lonnie to pawn them because he was the only one of the trio who had identification. He received $80 for the tools, which he gave to defendant with the pawn tickets.

Lonnie was present when the police arrested defendant. Defendant said to him at the time, "Remember, Lonnie." Lonnie considered the statement a threat.

.Lonnie admitted that he lied to the police and prosecution at first to protect himself and his brother, but he said he was telling the truth at trial.

b. Other Evidence

Schultz's body was found in the Sterling City area. The physical evidence indicated it had been dragged to its final location. It appeared the body had been placed where it would be difficult to see from the road. Schultz died of multiple stab wounds, including four in his chest.

Debbie Dodge testified she shared an apartment with the Hillhouse brothers for about a week around the time of the killing. Based on her observations of their interactions, she believed "Lonnie was really afraid of [defendant]." Defendant was the more dominant of the two. He was "more controlling." Lonnie "would jump whenever [defendant] spoke, he'd jump, do whatever he wanted."

Schultz's employer testified that he had given Schultz five $100 bills in payment shortly before his death. After he died, four $100 bills were found in his bedroom. Janice Murphy testified that she was with the Hillhouse brothers and Schultz at the Madison Bear Garden the evening of the killing. When the group left to go elsewhere, defendant drove Schultz's truck. On the way, Lonnie became frustrated with defendant's driving and left on foot. Eventually, Murphy went with defendant and Schultz to go home. Schultz was quite intoxicated. Defendant had been drinking, but she "didn't see anything really wrong" with him. She drove Schultz's truck, but when she arrived at her home, she gave the keys to defendant. Schultz was "passed out" on the passenger side of the truck.

Around 4:30 on the morning of the killing, defendant visited the home of Teresa and Keith Schulz (no relation to the victim, Schultz), located about two miles from the road near which the body was found, and asked to speak with Keith. Teresa saw that defendant was driving a truck like the one that belonged to Schultz, but she could not tell if anyone else was in it. Defendant asked Keith for some money to get gasoline. Keith told him he was a "family man" and asked him to leave. Defendant appeared intoxicated to Keith; he "just seemed real nervous when I told him I couldn't help him." Defendant then left.

Around 1:30 on the morning of March 10, 1991, i.e., during the night following the killing, Debbie Dodge observed defendant alone near a pickup she identified as similar to Schultz's truck. Defendant "got out of the truck, took a rag and went around to the passenger side and wiped off the window." He told her "that if I didn't see him by daylight, I never saw him or the truck before." When the truck was later examined for fingerprints, "it appeared that the windows, and the interior rear view mirror had been wiped down."

Around 3:30 that same morning, defendant went to Gary Reep's home and woke him. Defendant was "real hysterical" and said he needed help. Reep saw Schultz's truck with a toolbox in the back. Defendant said he had bought the truck...