People v. Hunter
| Decision Date | 17 July 2003 |
| Docket Number | A091583. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DARRELL HUNTER, Defendant and Appellant. |
Darrell Hunter appeals from convictions of murder, burglary, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, and illegal possession of a firearm, all arising from the murder of Ronnie Small during a party in an apartment in Marin City. Appellant claims a number of trial court errors require reversal of some or all of his convictions.1 We affirm.
Appellant was charged by information filed on January 20, 1998, with the murder of Ronald Small (Pen. Code, § 187)2 (count 1), with alleged special circumstances of lying in wait ( § 190.2, subd. (a)(15)) and burglary ( § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(G). Appellant was also charged with one count of burglary ( § 459) (count 2); one count of false imprisonment (§ 236) (count 3); four counts of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)) (counts 4-7); and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon ( § 12021, subd. (a)) (count 8). It was alleged that counts 1, 2 and 4 through 7 were serious felonies within the meaning of section 1192.7, subdivisions (c)(1), (c)(8) and (c)(18), and that appellant personally used a firearm in the commission of counts 1 through 3, causing these offenses to become serious felonies within the meaning of section 1192.7, subdivision (c)(23). It was further alleged that appellant had suffered convictions in 1994 for sale of narcotics and possession of narcotics, for which he served a prison term within the meaning of section 667.5, subdivision (b).3
On January 20, 1998, appellant pled not guilty and denied the special allegations. The defense acknowledged having received the district attorney's letter of election not to pursue the death penalty. Appellant subsequently filed a motion to set aside the information, which was denied on May 4, 1998. Also on May 4, count 6 was dismissed by stipulation. Numerous pretrial motions were argued and resolved over the next many months.4
Jury selection began on September 15, 1999. On October 29, appellant's motion to quash the jury venire was denied. Trial began on November 2, 1999. The parties concluded presentation of the evidentiary portion of their cases on January 20, 2000. After instructions to the jury and closing arguments, the jury retired to deliberate on January 28. On February 2, the jury returned verdicts finding appellant guilty of all counts and finding all the special allegations true. Appellant filed a motion for a new trial on March 31, which was denied on May 5, 2000.
Appellant was sentenced on May 30, 2000, to a prison term of life without possibility of parole on count 1, to be served consecutively to a total determinate term of 16 years and four months on the other counts.
Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal on May 30, 2000.
Ronald Small was murdered just after midnight on January 9, 1997, while sitting on a couch at a party in Marin City. Appellant and Joseph Koulibaly were identified as having burst into the party and fired guns; Small was shot with bullets from Koulibaly's weapon. Koulibaly has not been arrested.5 Appellant was arrested for a parole violation and initially told the police he knew nothing about the murder, had not been in Marin City and did not know Koulibaly. He subsequently acknowledged knowing Koulibaly and told the police he would give them the case "on a silver platter" if he was provided immunity or allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter. He testified that he was in Marin City with Koulibaly at the time of the murder but did not enter the apartment and tried to dissuade Koulibaly from going after Small. Appellant is an African-American man, approximately six-feet, five-inches tall. Koulibaly was described by various witnesses as light-skinned, about five-feet, nine or ten inches tall, with weight estimates ranging from 175 to 200 pounds.6
About a month before the homicide, on December 6, 1996, Shayla Davis saw a group of people approach Ronnie Small in a parking lot (the 200 lot) that was a popular meeting spot. She saw Koulibaly, yelling and "kind of excited," hit Small on his face with something and run away. Kiyana Coleman testified that on the same day she saw Koulibaly with a group of people on the patio of a building, talking "like they were in deep thought," then saw them approach Small in the 200 parking lot, saw Small duck, then run, and saw Koulibaly and the others run back up the hill.
In an interview after the homicide, John Mixon told Detective Ken Frey that Koulibaly had told him he suspected Tiyon Ford and Ronnie Small of having stolen $ 2500 worth of marijuana from the apartment of Koulibaly's girlfriend, Diema Adams, and that Koulibaly had confronted Small and hit him in the head with a pistol. Mixon, at trial, denied telling Frey these things or having heard them from Koulibaly.
On the afternoon of January 8, 1997, Esther Williams saw Ronnie Small shoot either at Diema Adams's car, which was moving up the driveway between 49 and 59 Cole Drive, or at a group of people outside 49 Cole Drive, then saw Koulibaly walk to Adams's apartment. Dante Gilbert, at a barbecue at Ford's apartment, heard the shots and heard, but did not really believe, that Small had fired them. Raythell Scott also heard the shots, then saw Small and, after a few minutes, saw Koulibaly getting into Adams's car. Mixon told Detective Frey he received a telephone call from Koulibaly, immediately after hearing the gunshots, in which Koulibaly said Small had just shot at him. Koulibaly said, "It's on," and Mixon tried to convince Koulibaly to forget about it. Mixon testified that he did not recall telling Frey about such a phone call.
Marin County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Mark Ross was dispatched to the area of 49 and 59 Cole Drive at about 8:18 p.m. on January 8, in response to a report of gunshots. As he approached the driveway, he saw Koulibaly in a small white car which was backing up and heading down the driveway, driven by a black female.
A number of witnesses identified appellant as having been at 49/59 Cole Drive on the night Small was killed. Frey testified that in an interview on January 29, 1997, Angela Williams, Diema Adams's cousin, told him that about 10:30 p.m. on January 8 she stepped outside to the balcony at Adams's apartment, 49 Cole Drive, number 13, and Koulibaly and a few of his friends brushed by her and went into the apartment. She did not recognize the friends and could describe only one of them, a dark-skinned black male, "well over 6 feet" tall, with low-cut hair and wearing a dark blue puffy jacket. Williams initially told Frey that for a time she was inside the apartment with Koulibaly and his friends, then later stated she had never been in the apartment with them. About 25 minutes before Small was shot, Koulibaly and his friends left Adams's apartment; Williams went back inside. Williams heard the shooting, then ran home, on the way running into Gilbert and his two brothers outside of 49 Cole Drive.
Frey showed Williams a series of photographs in an attempt to identify the tall male who had been with Koulibaly on the night of the murder. Williams said she could not identify anyone in the lineup. Asked if there was anyone that might look like the person, she said that if she had to identify someone she would pick either number 2 or 5, because the person she had seen had very dark skin. Photograph 5 was of appellant.
Williams testified that she did not recall telling Frey the facts he described from the interview and contradicted some of the details of his report. She testified that during her interview the police asked if she had seen a group of people outside, one of whom "stuck out like a sore thumb because he was tall." She said she had seen a tall person on the porch outside apartment 15 but did not recall saying she would pick number 2 or 5 if she had to guess which photograph depicted that person. Williams testified that she did not recall seeing Koulibaly outside on the night of the shooting, but when confronted with her grand jury testimony to the contrary, she recalled giving this testimony.
Frey testified that in an interview on January 31, 1997, Peter Standley stated that he had seen Koulibaly enter Adams's apartment with four other black males 30 to 60 minutes before the homicide. Standley was concerned for Small and went into the party at 59 Cole Drive, apartment 15, to talk to him about it. Standley testified that he did not recall telling Frey the above facts and that he was drunk and hung over when Frey interviewed him. Standley acknowledged that he knew Koulibaly.
Frey interviewed Starvell Lewis, Dante Gilbert's brother, at about 10 a.m. on December 9, 1997. Lewis said that during the late evening of December 8, Gilbert had come to tell him and their brother, Moncure Lewis, about a problem he had had with someone in the area of 49 Cole Drive. The three went to that area and Gilbert pointed out appellant, whom Lewis knew. Appellant agreed not to "mess" with Lewis's family, Lewis and appellant hugged, then, as the three brothers began to walk toward the bottom of Cole Drive, gunshots erupted. Moncure Lewis also told Frey that the brothers worked out the problem with appellant, then heard gunshots as they began to walk home.7
Starvell Lewis knew appellant and identified him in court. Lewis testified that he heard gunshots while on his way back from checking on the problem Gilbert had had at the party in building 49, but claimed he did not know anyone at the party, did not make contact with anyone and did not remember talking to appellant that night or telling Frey that he had done so.
Dante Gilbert was interviewed by Detective William Hernandez on January 28, 1997. Hernandez testified that Gilbert told him he wanted...
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