People v. Houston

• Decision Date: 15 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. A105198.,A105198.
• Citation: 29 Cal.Rptr.3d 818,130 Cal.App.4th 279
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Raymond HOUSTON, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

29 Cal.Rptr.3d 818

130 Cal.App.4th 279

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Raymond HOUSTON, Defendant and Appellant.

No. A105198.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2.

June 15, 2005.

Review Denied September 21, 2005.^*

Julie Schumer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Orlinda, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Moona Nandi, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, David H. Rose, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LAMBDEN, J.

Raymond Houston (appellant) appeals his conviction for second degree murder with a weapon of his estranged wife, Lucille Houston (Houston), for which the trial court sentenced him to a term of 40 years to life in prison. Appellant contends that the trial court violated his constitutional rights by admitting into evidence Houston's previous statements to police and hospital personnel about appellant's acts of domestic violence against her; erred in refusing to exclude certain DNA evidence; committed prejudicial error by admitting purportedly improper "bad character" evidence regarding appellant's extramarital affairs; and should have allowed him an evidentiary hearing to develop purported facts of spectator misconduct that supposedly tainted the jury. Appellant contends that his conviction must be reversed and a new trial granted or, in the alternative, that the matter must be remanded for an evidentiary hearing regarding the purported spectator misconduct. For the reasons stated post, we affirm appellant's conviction.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

On November 23, 2001, Houston's friends contacted the police and appellant after Houston had failed to pick up an out-of-town visitor at the airport on November 21, 2001, appear with appellant at a friend's house on November 22, 2001, for Thanksgiving dinner, or call her mother on her mother's birthday. Houston, a photojournalist for the San Jose Mercury News, was married to appellant since 1998. In June 2001, she had moved out of their jointly owned house on Fresno Street in Oakland and filed for divorce.

Appellant met with Houston's friends and the police on November 23, 2001. There was testimony that he claimed at that time that Houston had stayed with him overnight at the Fresno Street house on November 20, 2001; that he had moved her car into his garage Tuesday night so she could remove camera equipment to make room for the luggage of her out-of-town visitor;¹ that he had left her at the house early the following morning, November 21, 2001, to go to his workplace in Alameda; that Houston had planned, among other things, to pick up her friend at the airport and later meet him around noon at his workplace to have documents notarized transferring appellant's ownership interest in the Fresno Street house to Houston; that they had planned to attend the Thanksgiving dinner together the next day; and that she did not appear at his workplace and had not contacted him since. Appellant said Houston had told him she was going to pick up her friend at the airport around 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m., a time he later recalled to be 11:00 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Appellant also claimed that he had tried to attend the Thanksgiving dinner, but could not find the friend's house, although he had been there before and the friend was listed in the phonebook. Appellant said that he had tried to reach Houston by telephone. He allowed police to look through the house, but nothing was found relating to Houston.

Appellant gave a written witness statement to police later in the early morning of November 24, 2001, which was prepared by an interviewing officer and signed by appellant. He recited much of what he had said earlier, stating that he left Houston alive at the Fresno Street house when he left for work between 6:30 and 6:40 a.m. on the morning of November 21, 2001, and that "[i]t is very unlike Lucille to be missing. She has good physical and mental conditions and has never done anything like this before. I have no idea where Lucille could have gone." The interviewing officer testified at trial that appellant did not indicate at the time that anyone else had access to the house.

On November 25, 2001, Lucille Houston's body was found under a blue tarp on the back seat of her car, clad in underpants only, parked on a street within about 15 minutes' walking distance of the Fresno Street house. The pathologist who performed an autopsy testified that Houston was killed by gunshots to her abdomen and head. Police recovered a bullet from Houston's brain, but the bullet that caused the wound to Houston's abdomen had passed through her body and was not found in the car. Police also found an envelope in the backseat pocket of the driver's area containing documents which contemplated appellant's transfer of his interest in the Fresno Street house to Houston.

Police searched the Fresno Street house again after they found Houston's body. An investigator noticed a recently plastered area of one wall about 39 inches off the ground behind a coat rack in appellant's upstairs bedroom. Inside the wall, police found a bullet. An experienced police forensic biologist extracted material from the bullet and found traces of what almost certainly was Houston's DNA; she testified that only one in 635 billion people would be a DNA match. A police firearms expert conducted an extensive analysis of the bullets recovered from Houston's brain and from appellant's bedroom wall and concluded that they were fired from the same gun, a .380 automatic.

Police found other relevant physical evidence in the Fresno Street house. They concluded from their examination of a box spring in appellant's bedroom that a bullet had passed through it, with the "entry" hole approximately 37 inches and "exit" hole about 39 inches above the ground when the box spring was placed on edge. They also found numerous unidentifiable fingerprints in the house, no blood evidence, cleaning supplies, and a container of joint compound.

The police did not find any of Houston's personal effects at the Fresno Street house. They searched the hotel room where Houston had been staying, and found such things as her toiletries, cosmetics, clothes, and inhaler there.

Appellant was subsequently arrested and, by information filed on May 2, 2002, charged with murdering Houston some time between November 20 and 25, 2001, in violation of Penal Code section 187, and with using a firearm in violation of Penal Code sections 12022.53, subdivisions (c) and (d), 1203.06, subdivision (a)(1) and 12022.5, subdivision (a)(1). Appellant pled not guilty and denied the enhancements.

II. Relevant Pre-Trial Motions

Prior to trial, the parties debated several relevant motions regarding evidence, which are addressed further in the discussion section, post. First, respondent sought to have admitted, and appellant sought to exclude, Houston's hearsay statements regarding two prior incidents of domestic violence involving appellant. Houston had made statements to the police and hospital personnel that appellant had attacked her on June 22, 2001, in a fight at the Fresno Street house, pulling out some of her hair and injuring her finger, after Houston told him she wanted a divorce because she could not understand why he stayed out all night. Respondent also sought admission, and appellant the exclusion, of Houston's statement to police about an August 2001 incident, in which she stated that appellant had argued with her about the disposition of the Fresno Street house in their divorce and then kicked out her car window. The court allowed all of the evidence to be admitted.

Second, appellant moved to exclude evidence of Houston's DNA that police had extracted from the bullet found in the wall of appellant's bedroom. Appellant contended that the police had "digested" the entire bullet to extract DNA from the bullet, and thereby made it impossible for appellant to determine the reliability of the police's extraction methods. Respondent contended that under the circumstances of their investigation at the time, the police acted appropriately and without any intent to unnecessarily destroy evidence. The court denied appellant's motion.

Third, the parties debated the admissibility of testimony from two witnesses, W.M. and S.P., who each testified at trial that she had had an affair with appellant during appellant's marriage to Houston. Respondent moved to introduce S.P.'s testimony of her dealings with appellant, which at trial included appellant's promises, before Houston's death, to marry her and, later, to provide financial support for a baby they had conceived together. Respondent contended that this testimony was relevant to show appellant's deceitfulness, arguing that appellant had been stringing S.P. along in the same manner that he had deceived Houston about selling his interest in the house to her. The court granted this motion.

Respondent moved to introduce testimony by W.M. that appellant made comments indicating he was possessive about his house in August of 2001. The court, after cautioning respondent about the possible undue prejudice that could result from extended testimony about appellant's extramarital affairs, granted this motion as well.

Finally, the parties debated whether respondent would be allowed to ask S.P. and W.M. if appellant told them he was married during their affairs. Appellant contended such testimony would be prejudicial, while respondent contended it was relevant to the credibility of both appellant and of S.P. and W.M. The court, agreeing with respondent, allowed the line of questioning.

III. The Trial of Appellant

A. Respondent's Evidence

Respondent presented the testimony and evidence discussed above. Witnesses also testified about suspicious statements and actions by appellant after Houston's disappearance. For example, appellant did not...