People v. Lewis

• Decision Date: 16 July 2009
• Docket Number: No. S069959.,S069959.
• Citation: 210 P.3d 1119,96 Cal.Rptr.3d 512,46 Cal. 4th 1255
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Michael Bernard LEWIS, Defendant and Appellant.

210 P.3d 1119

96 Cal.Rptr.3d 512

46 Cal. 4th 1255

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Michael Bernard LEWIS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S069959.

Supreme Court of California.

July 16, 2009.

Tara K. Hoveland, South Lake Tahoe, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Biil Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson and Mary Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, William M. Wood, Holly D. Wilkens and Peter Quon, Jr., Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

GEORGE, C.J.

A jury convicted Michael Bernard Lewis of the first degree murder of Patricia Miller (Pen.Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189), and found true the special circumstance that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of a rape (Pen.Code, §§ 190.2, subdivision (a)(17)(iii), 261).¹ The jury also found true the allegations that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon (§§ 1192.7, subd. (c)(23), 12002, subd. (b)) and that defendant previously had been convicted of a serious felony (§ 667). Following the penalty phase of the trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. Defendant moved for a new trial (§ 1181), and for modification of the penalty to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (§ 190.4, subd. (e)). The trial court denied the motions and sentenced defendant to death. The court also sentenced defendant to an additional year in prison, consecutive to the death sentence, for the deadly weapon enhancement (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), added a five-year sentence, to be served concurrently, for the prior felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)), and ordered restitution in the amount of $10,000 (§ 1202.4, subd. (b)). This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

I. FACTS

A. Guilt phase evidence

1. The prosecution case

a. Summary

In the morning of August 2, 1991, Patricia Miller was found dead on her living room floor, with her pants pulled off, her shirt pushed up, and her throat slashed. Defendant had flirted with Miller early the previous evening, had visited her apartment later that evening, and was the last person seen with her. He gave numerous conflicting accounts of his activities on the evening of August 1, initially denying that he had been in Miller's apartment, and eventually admitting that he had sex with Miller in her apartment that evening. He was unable to provide police detectives with a credible account of his activities and whereabouts during the four-hour period following his last admitted contact with Miller, and his description of the events conflicted with the accounts provided by other individuals. Four years earlier, defendant had assaulted and raped an acquaintance when he visited her at her apartment late in the evening. Details of the prior assault and rape were similar to the murder and rape of Miller.

b. Defendant's activities on August 1 and 2, 1991

Patricia Miller resided in a two-story apartment building on Republic Street in Moreno Valley with her daughter Danyelle, 13 years of age, and her son Demetreus, five years of age. Directly to the east was a similar apartment building where Brian Jones resided. Directly east of Jones's building was a third apartment building where Dwayne Mitchell resided. Along the rear of the apartment buildings was an alley running parallel to Republic Street to the north and Alessandro Boulevard to the south. Between the apartment buildings were walkways from Republic Street to the alley. Across the alley from Jones's and Mitchell's buildings, between the alley and Alessandro Boulevard, was a liquor store.

Jones testified that in August 1991, it was his custom to socialize with friends in the carport area behind his apartment building. He testified that frequently persons walked through the walkways and the alley, especially on the first and 15th of any month, because residents of the neighborhood went to the liquor store to cash their checks. In addition, according to Jones, some individuals took these routes to purchase illegal drugs from dealers who frequented the area around the liquor store.

Jones related that sometime after 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 1, 1991, his friend, David Hargrove, accompanied by defendant, arrived to visit with Jones in the carport area.² Defendant was wearing a white T-shirt, white shorts, white socks, and white sneakers. Jones testified that defendant told him he was leaving California that night or the next morning. According to Jones, defendant was "putting the moves on everything that moved." He testified that as women walked through the alleyway, defendant made comments such as, "I am going to fuck me something tonight, before I go," "I kind of like to fuck that bitch," and "I like to get with that hoe." Defendant sometimes yelled comments or whistled at women as they passed.³

According to Jones, at approximately 8:00 that evening, the victim, Patricia Miller, walked through the alley, from the liquor store to her apartment. Miller was acquainted with Jones, and she stopped to socialize briefly with the group in the carport. Jones testified that defendant called Miller aside, whispered in her ear, and conversed with her for approximately 10 minutes. Jones also testified that he and Hargrove "laughed off" defendant's advances toward Miller, because defendant was "wasting his time." According to Jones, defendant commented after his conversation with Miller that he "wouldn't mind getting some of that."⁴

Hargrove testified that at approximately 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., before it became dark, he gave defendant a ride to visit a friend of defendant's who resided in a nearby neighborhood. Jones testified that 30 or 40 minutes after Hargrove and defendant left the carport, Jones saw defendant walking down the alley. Jones testified that he noticed defendant was exhibiting symptoms consistent with a person who had used rock cocaine, and he described defendant as "all jacked up."⁵

The testimony of Miller's daughter, Danyelle, established that, after returning to the alley, defendant visited Miller at her apartment. Danyelle testified that her mother called her inside between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., by which time Danyelle's brother already was asleep in their mother's bed. Danyelle testified that she came inside and went to sleep, but was awakened approximately 30 minutes later by a knock at the door of the apartment. She explained that her bedroom window was above the door to their apartment and overlooked the walkway between their building and the apartment building directly to the west. She testified that, through her window, she inquired who was there, and the person at the door responded, "Mike."⁶ Danyelle testified that she told her mother, who was in the upstairs bathroom, that "Mike" was at the front door, and her mother responded, "Tell him to hold on." Danyelle relayed the message to the visitor through her window. She testified that before she fell asleep again, she heard her mother and the visitor talking, and saw her mother through her bedroom window, walking outside with the visitor toward the laundry room in the back of the apartment building. Danyelle also testified that some time later, she was awakened again when her mother heard gunshots and called upstairs to Danyelle to close her bedroom window.

Dwayne Mitchell also heard the gunshots in the alley that evening, estimating the time at between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. Mitchell testified he was walking to a telephone booth at the east end of the alley when he heard the shots and encountered defendant in the alley, walking back from the telephone booth in the direction of Mitchell's apartment building. Defendant was alone at that time. Mitchell testified he next saw defendant at approximately 11:00 that evening, when defendant and Miller walked past Mitchell's bedroom window, along the walkway between Mitchell's and Jones's buildings, in the direction of Republic Street, where cocaine sometimes was sold.⁷ Mitchell did not see defendant again until approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 2, when defendant returned to Mitchell's apartment to spend the night.

Virginia Turner testified she was employed at a taxicab dispatch office in a commercial building situated on the east side of the liquor store. She was at the dispatch office from 8:00 p.m. on August 1 until 8:00 a.m. the next morning, and from her window, which she faced while she worked, she had a clear view of the alley and the rear of the apartment buildings. According to Turner, sometime between 11:00 p.m. and midnight, she received a telephone call from defendant, who asked whether she knew where he could obtain some cocaine. She responded that she could not obtain any for him at that time. Approximately five minutes later, Turner testified, she saw defendant come out of the walkway by Miller's building and walk down the alley, in the opposite direction from Turner's office. After another five minutes elapsed, she saw defendant return up the alley and into the walkway by Miller's building. She explained it was easy to see defendant because he was dressed in white clothing.⁸

Turner testified that the next time she saw defendant was when he emerged from the walkway by Miller's apartment at approximately 2:00 a.m. and turned into the alley. She related that he walked quickly to Turner's office and told her he needed a taxicab immediately. Turner responded that her sole driver was "out on a run," and that defendant would have to wait 10 or 15 minutes. According to Turner, defendant said that he could not wait, and that he would go to Mitchell's house to see whether Mitchell was awake. Turner testified that during the time defendant was at the taxicab office, she observed that he exhibited symptoms of having smoked cocaine; he was jittery, nervous, and sweating. She stated that he was wearing white clothing, and that she did not notice any blood or other marks on him.

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