People v. King

• Decision Date: 29 August 1978
• Docket Number: Cr. 20380
• Citation: 582 P.2d 1000,148 Cal.Rptr. 409,22 Cal.3d 12
• Parties: , 582 P.2d 1000 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William Harris KING, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 409

148 Cal.Rptr. 409

22 Cal.3d 12, 582 P.2d 1000

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William Harris KING, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 20380.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

Aug. 29, 1978.

Paul N. Halvonik, State Public Defender, Clifton R. Jeffers, Chief Asst. State Public Defender, Ezra Henson and Tanya Neiman, Deputy State Public Defenders, for defendant and appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., Jack R. Winkler, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Edward P. O'Brien, Asst. Atty. Gen., Derald E. Granberg and John W. Runde, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

MANUEL, Justice.

Defendant William Harris King appeals from a judgment (order granting probation) entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of violating Penal Code section 12021. ¹ He contends that the trial court erred in refusing his request that the jury be instructed on self-defense. The People argue that self-defense is not a defense to a charge of violating section 12021.

As we shall explain, we have concluded that in enacting section 12021 the Legislature did not intend to deny persons described by that section the right to use a concealable firearm in defense of self or others in emergency situations, and that in this case it was error to refuse to give instructions on self-defense. Because the omission of these instructions denied defendant his right to have the jury consider issues material to his guilt, we reverse the conviction. (People v. Sedeno (1974) 10 Cal.3d 703, 721, 112 Cal.Rptr. 1, 518 P.2d 913.)

Because the right to instructions on self-defense is the central issue in this appeal, ² our recital of the evidence introduced at trial is necessarily one emphasizing matters which would justify such instructions, rather than the customary summary of evidence supporting the judgment. (See, e. g., People v. Holt (1944) 25 Cal.2d 59, 62, 153 P.2d 21; People v. Jackson (1965) 233 Cal.App.2d 639, 640, 43 Cal.Rptr. 817.)

During the late evening hours of August 9, 1975, and continuing into the early morning of August 10, 1975, Carrie Foster hosted a birthday party for her friend Raymond Meggs in her second floor apartment on DeRose Avenue in San Jose. The apartment had only one entrance, a door on a balcony-walkway overlooking an interior court. The only other opening to the balcony was a window in the wall of the living-dining area near the door.

Shortly after 10 p. m. on August 9th, invited guests began to arrive at the party. As many as 30 to 40 people were present in the apartment at times. Many of the invited guests were fellow employees of Ms. Foster, others were friends who attended San Jose State University. Not all of the guests were admitted by Ms. Foster personally. Among those admitted by friends who were assisting her were Dennis Montgomery and Arnold Hart, neither of whom had been invited. Defendant, an invited guest, arrived between 11 p. m. and midnight with Benny Irving, Pam Burrell, and Mary Jones. He and Ms. Burrell left briefly to go to a store, but returned within 45 minutes.

Within a few minutes of their arrival at the party Montgomery and Hart became dissatisfied with the lack of interest other guests had in dancing with them or providing them with food. They demanded condiments for the food they had been given, and when told that the requested items were unavailable began ransacking the kitchen cabinets. Raymond Meggs remonstrated with them. Arnold Hart took umbrage at the treatment he and Montgomery had received and was either invited to leave or challenged Meggs to step outside to pursue the matter. The two men left the apartment and, following a further heated exchange of words, a fight between them ensued on the small balcony outside the apartment door. While this fight was in progress a group of as many as eight additional uninvited men, friends of Montgomery and Hart, arrived at the location and began to climb the stairs to the balcony. Meggs and Hart abandoned their fight briefly, and had almost reentered the apartment when the fight resumed with others becoming involved in an attempt to separate the pair.

Inside the apartment Ms. Foster had become alarmed. She told her guests that the party was over. Most left. Andrea Armstrong had heard Meggs state that the party was over, but when she attempted to leave she was confronted by the group of uninvited men approaching the apartment and had retreated inside again. Remaining in the apartment at this point were only defendant, Benny Irving who was disabled and confined to a wheelchair, Kenny Bolding, and five women. It was now approximately 2 a. m.

The disturbance outside the apartment continued as the newly arrived friends of Montgomery and Hart ascended the stairs. One member of this group attempted to enter the apartment, but was stopped by Ms. Foster who told him that the party was over and attempted to shut the door. The intruder forced his foot into the doorway, however, preventing her from closing the door. He was both drunk and belligerent. When Kenny Bolding came to the door the intruder attempted to strike Bolding, but during the attempt moved his foot enabling Ms. Foster to close the door. She thereupon retreated to a back bedroom where she was crying as a result of her fear and her distress that the "crashers" had ruined the party and were attempting to break up her apartment.

Andrea Armstrong and Mary Jones, both of whom had also become concerned for their safety as the disturbance escalated, joined Ms. Foster in the bedroom. Ms. Armstrong heard screaming and a crashing sound coming from the front of the apartment, followed by the sound of running feet and a pounding on the door. She ran to hide in a closet, but was stopped by Ms. Foster who asked her to telephone the police, which she did.

Mary Jones had seen the intruder put his foot in the door and after the door had been shut heard him threaten to tear the door down. She heard a window break and heard kicking and pounding on the door. Frightened and screaming she had retreated to the bedroom. She thought of jumping from the window. She was particularly frightened because she knew some of the intruders and had seen them fighting at another party. She believed the group was breaking into the apartment.

Mildred Arline ran to the bedroom, tripping over an electrical cord as she did so, when she heard the window break. She was frightened by the fighting and did not know what was happening.

Defendant had not become involved in any way in the escalating violence. He did not take part in the attempts to separate Meggs and Hart who continued to fight out on the balcony. At the point when Ms. Foster managed to shut the door and the intruders outside began kicking and pounding on it and threatening to break it open, James Long, one of that group, picked up a double hibachi grill that was on the balcony in front of the neighboring apartment, and threw it through the window into the dining area where defendant was seated at a table with Benny Irving. The grill struck defendant and showered both defendant and Irving with glass, some particles of which lodged in defendant's eyes. As soon as he managed to wash the glass from his eyes with tears, and saw that Irving was having difficulty attempting to flee as the wheels of his chair were locked, defendant assisted Irving into the bedroom in which the women had just taken refuge. Ms. Armstrong was still attempting to obtain police assistance by telephone at that time.

Defendant then returned to the front door, stepped outside for a moment, and then was pulled back in by Pam Burrell. Ms. Burrell had seen the grill strike defendant. When the window broke she heard "hollering and screaming" in the front room and believed because of the hammering and and kicking on the door, and statements by the intruders that "this is how you get in here," that they were going to break in. The sound from the balcony was like "thunder." Frightened she had run to the bedroom and returned to the living room with her purse in which she carried a .25 caliber Italian Burretta automatic pistol. As she pulled defendant back into the living room she handed him the gun and began looking for a stick with which to protect herself. At the time she pulled defendant back into the room he appeared to be afraid, not angry.

Defendant testified that he was shocked and frightened when the hibachi came through the window. Within one to two minutes he had assisted Benny Irving to the bedroom and returned to the living room where people were screaming. The women were crying for someone to "do something," and several people were still fighting on the porch. After he looked out, defendant wanted to close the door and remain uninvolved. He was both "scared" and limited by a "bad back." He had waited in hope that the police would arrive, but when Ms. Burrell handed him her pistol he took it because she appeared to be frightened. He personally was "scared" then and he feared that if anything happened to him Ms. Burrell would use the gun.

Defendant stepped outside again, fired three shots into the air and warned the intruders to leave. He intended to disperse the crowd and was "stunned" and frightened when, after retreating, the intruders turned and again ran up the stairs toward him following a shout by someone that he was firing blanks. He then fired over the heads of the oncoming men. At that time he believed he was in great danger. The intruders retreated a final time.

During the second incident, which took place within 30 seconds to a minute after defendant first fired the gun, Dennis Montgomery suffered a relatively minor gunshot wound. He came to the door, told defendant he had been shot, refused an offer of assistance, and was driven to a nearby hospital by a friend.

As a result of these events defendant was charged by information with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in violation of section 245, subdivision (a), and with the violation of ...