People v. Lawley

• Decision Date: 24 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. S014497.,S014497.
• Citation: 27 Cal.4th 102,38 P.3d 461,115 Cal.Rptr.2d 614
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dennis Harold LAWLEY, Defendant and Appellant.

115 Cal.Rptr.2d 614

27 Cal.4th 102

38 P.3d 461

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dennis Harold LAWLEY, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S014497.

Supreme Court of California.

January 24, 2002.

Rehearing Denied March 13, 2002.

Scott F. Kauffman, under appointment by the Supreme Court, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, George Williamson and David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Stephen G. Herndon, Ward A. Campbell, Shirley A. Nelson, Laura I. Heidt and David Andrew Eldridge, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

Following a trial at which he represented himself with the assistance of advisory counsel, a Stanislaus County jury convicted Dennis Harold Lawley of single counts of murder (Pen.Code, § 187),¹ conspiracy to commit murder (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)) and solicitation to murder (§ 653f, subd. (b)). The jury also found true an arming allegation (§ 12022, subd. (a)) and a financialgain special-circumstance allegation (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(1)). The same jury subsequently found the appropriate penalty for the murder and conspiracy counts to be death; the trial court imposed sentence accordingly. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We shall vacate as unauthorized the special circumstance finding and sentence of death on the conspiracy count; modify the judgment to direct the trial court to amend the abstract of judgment to provide for a sentence of imprisonment for 25 years to life, stayed pursuant to section 654, on the conspiracy count; and otherwise affirm the judgment, including the murder and conspiracy convictions and the sentence of death for the murder count.

FACTS

Guilt phase

On January 22, 1989, George Silva, Jr., was living on the southeast corner of Keyes and Jennings Roads in Stanislaus County. That evening, Silva, who was familiar with firearms and the sound of gunfire, heard what sounded like three largecaliber pistol shots. After each shot, Silva heard a "thud," as if an object were being struck by the shots. Shortly after the shots were fired, Silva heard a car drive at a high speed past his house and observed a car driving westbound toward Jennings Road. The time was approximately 7:45 p.m.

Between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m. that same evening, Kay Spencer was driving in the vicinity of Keyes and Jennings Roads. As she turned north onto Jennings Road from West Main, she saw the taillights of a vehicle about one-quarter to one-half mile in the distance ahead of her. As the other car negotiated a curve, its taillights disappeared from view. When Spencer turned east on Keyes Road, she saw what appeared to be the same distinctive taillights on a car stopped about a quarter-mile from the intersection. The car was an older-model full-size sedan, dark green or brown in color. Although she was not positive, she believed the brake lights were on. Spencer testified she thought she saw three people around the car: at the open trunk, a dark-haired man of medium height, apparently in his mid-20's; on the right-hand side of the vehicle, a slighter, sandy-haired man walking toward the back of the car; and a third person Spencer could not describe.

About 8:00 p.m. that evening, while driving eastbound with his girlfriend on Keyes Road toward Crows Landing, Hubert Blake observed a pair of legs protruding onto the road. Looking closer, he saw a man lying facedown, his body half on the road and half on the adjacent dirt. Blake drove back down the road to a trailer occupied by Phil Silva, whom he had been visiting earlier that evening, had his girlfriend direct the occupants to call 911, and drove back to the scene. After determining the man was dead, Blake covered him with a towel.

The victim, later identified as Kenneth Lawton Stewart, had suffered two gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Abrasions on his face were consistent with his being shot in the back of the head while lying facedown. A fragment of a bullet jacket or casing was found entangled in Stewart's hair; another fragment was discovered approximately four to six feet north of his head. Underneath the body was blood and brain matter; blood was also present on the dirt and asphalt. Police also found two moist oil stains on the roadway near the body.

After learning, the next day, that a body had been found on Keyes Road, Kay Spencer contacted the Stanislaus County Sheriffs Department. When Spencer showed Sheriffs Detective Gary Deckard where she had seen the stopped vehicle, he told her it was the same general area where the body was found.

Stewart had been released from the Deuel Vocational Institute at Tracy four days before his death. Stewart had a reputation for robbing drug dealers of cash and drugs. After his release, he had frequented Del Rio Mobile Home Park in Modesto, also known as Butler's Camp. Butler's Camp consisted of a number of trailers and small cabins. Since early December 1988, defendant had been renting a cabin at Butler's Camp. In January 1989, defendant's cabin was the scene of much drug dealing.

Ricky Black was one of several people charged with Stewart's murder and was technically facing the death penalty. Black had also been charged with kidnapping Stewart. Black testified for the prosecution at defendant's trial under a grant of immunity and on the assumption the charges concerning Stewart, as well as drag sale charges pending against him, would be dismissed. He acknowledged that if his role in Stewart's murder was greater than he had previously admitted, his deal with the prosecution was off. Black admitted he was a heroin addict with prior felony convictions for grand theft, petty theft with a prior, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Black testified he knew both defendant and Stewart and had purchased drugs at defendant's cabin, usually from someone other than defendant. On the night of Stewart's murder, Black had been with Stewart in Butler's Camp in the cabin of Lawrence Woodcock. Black had just left Woodcock's cabin and was walking down a back street about half a block from defendant's cabin when Brian Seabourn, who Black indicated had some mental problems, drove up in a brown car. Black had previously seen Seabourn with guns, although he did not observe a gun on this occasion. Seabourn asked Black if he knew Stewart and knew where he was. Seabourn told Black he wanted to kill Stewart and needed his help. Knowing Stewart was still in Woodcock's cabin, Black offered to lure him out by telling him Seabourn wanted to do a drug robbery. Black went to Woodcock's cabin and returned to Seabourn's car with Stewart. He introduced the two men and got into Seabourn's car along with Stewart. Seabourn drove a short distance to a small store, where Black got out despite Seabourn's asking him to stay. That was the last time Black saw Stewart.

Black learned of Stewart's death the next day. When he talked with Seabourn after the crime, Seabourn told him he had killed Stewart and buried the murder weapon. Black testified he did not know of anyone who "had anything else to do with this." After Stewart's murder, Black was in possession of a knife Stewart had stolen from Freddie Salas; Black testified Stewart had given him the knife.

A few days before the murder, probably on Thursday, January 19, 1989, Black had entered defendant's cabin just as Stewart was finishing robbing and assaulting defendant. He observed the two men fighting and Stewart running out the cabin door, pursued by defendant. When defendant returned to the cabin, he began to fight with Black, apparently believing he had been with Stewart. Afterward, Black tried to convince defendant he had had nothing to do with the robbery.

Treva Coonce testified for the prosecution at defendant's May 12, 1989, preliminary hearing and at his trial, under a grant of immunity. She also testified at Brian Seabourn's preliminary hearing and gave several interviews, on April 14, 1989, and subsequently, to Stanislaus County Sheriffs Detective Gary Deckard. Coonce's various statements often contradicted each other, and she repudiated her prior statements and testimony on a number of occasions. Coonce was a heroin addict who was in jail and going through withdrawal at the time she made her April 14 statement to Detective Deckard. Despite her grant of immunity, at defendant's trial Coonce continued to repudiate her earlier statements implicating defendant and Seabourn. Consequently, most of the incriminating evidence elicited from Coonce during defendant's trial came in the form of readings from her May 12 preliminary hearing testimony and statements made to Deckard on April 14 and subsequently. The following account is derived from Coonce's trial and preliminary hearing testimony and from the testimony of Detective Deckard.

For a week to 10 days in early January 1989, Treva Coonce stayed in defendant's cabin at Butler's Camp. She left after an argument with defendant, eventually moving into the trailer next door. Coonce was the girlfriend of Steven Mendonca, who was also charged with Stewart's murder and ultimately pleaded guilty to second degree murder.² Coonce had also known Stewart for several years. About a week before Stewart's murder, while in her trailer next to defendant's cabin, Coonce overheard a fight between defendant and Ricky Black. Afterward, defendant and Black sat down on the porch together. Coonce did not see Stewart at defendant's cabin and did not recall seeing defendant bruised or cut after the fight.

Coonce told Detective Deckard, and testified at defendant's May 12 preliminary hearing, that a few days after the robbery and assault on defendant she was present in defendant's cabin with Mendonca, Seabourn, defendant, Tom Bourchier and other people she could no longer recall. Defendant was "fuming" over the robbery and said he would "do anything to have [Stewart] taken care of." Defendant said he "would...