People v. Maraglino
| Decision Date | 29 December 2017 |
| Docket Number | D069297,D069609 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DOROTHY G. MARAGLINO et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
CONSOLIDATED APPEALS from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, K. Michael Kirkman, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part.
Randall Bookout, under appointment of the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Dorothy Grace Maraglino.
Raymond Mark DiGuiseppe, under appointment of the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Jessica Lynn Lopez.
Arthur Martin, under appointment of the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Louis Ray Perez.
Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. Swenson and Allison V. Hawley, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
In 2015, a jury convicted Louis Perez, Dorothy Maraglino, and Jessica Lopez of first degree murder (Pen. Code1 § 187, subd. (a)), kidnapping (§ 207, subd. (a)), torture (§ 206), and attempted sexual battery by restraint (§§ 243.4, subd. (a) & 664) following the death of Brittany Killgore in April 2012. The jury also convicted Perez and Maraglino of a conspiracy to kidnap (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)), but acquitted Lopez of that charge. In addition, the jury made a true finding as to all defendants on the special circumstance allegation that the murder was committed during a kidnapping (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(B)). The prosecution did not seek the death penalty, and all three defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole (LWOP) for first degree special circumstance murder.
On appeal, defendants argue the trial court prejudicially erred by admitting evidence of their BDSM lifestyle2 and not severing their trials. They challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their convictions and true special circumstance findings, and Maraglino argues her resulting LWOP sentence violates the Eighth Amendment. Lopez raises a separate challenge as to the trial testimony of Dr. AlanAbrams, who testified for Perez regarding Lopez's mental health, and Maraglino raises separate claims of instructional error.
We find no abuse of discretion in the admission of BDSM evidence or in defendants' joint trial. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, there is insufficient evidence to support Maraglino's convictions for torture and attempted sexual battery by restraint, but sufficient evidence supporting defendants' remaining convictions and special circumstance findings. Consequently, Maraglino's LWOP sentence does not violate her Eighth Amendment rights. We further conclude any error in permitting Dr. Abrams to testify was harmless, as was any instructional error claimed by Maraglino.
"We recite the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict." (People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788, 795 (Banks).)
On April 13, 2012, Perez picked up Killgore from her apartment under the pretext of taking her on a dinner cruise. Ten minutes later, Killgore sent her friend a text message saying, "Help." Four days later, detectives recovered her nude body near Lake Skinner in Riverside County. Evidence presented at trial suggested Killgore died while defendants were acting out a BDSM kidnapping fantasy.
Perez, Maraglino, and Lopez were active participants in the BDSM lifestyle, respectively occupying roles in their household of "master," "mistress," and "slave." Perez and Maraglino were in a dominant-submissive relationship wherein Perez was the dominant and Maraglino was his submissive. Perez lived in a separate residence butoften visited Maraglino at her home in Fallbrook, California. Lopez was Maraglino's slave and lived in Maraglino's home.
As a masochist, Lopez enjoyed receiving pain; Maraglino would inflict pain on her through BDSM "play." Although a slave in the Maraglino household, Lopez had been a dominant in the past and in an ongoing online relationship with someone named Bella. Maraglino was a "switch," meaning she was submissive with Perez and dominant with Lopez. Maraglino established written procedures, including a "House Manual," "Perfect Slave Checklist," and slave contract. She controlled everything Lopez did inside and outside the home; Lopez wore a dog collar stating she was Maraglino's property. As Maraglino's master, Perez had control over Maraglino's household, including control over Lopez.
Perez was a sadist and enjoyed inflicting pain on others. In his past relationship, he choked J.L. almost every time they had sex and proposed to have her abducted by strangers. He also restrained J.L. during sex and dragged a heavy chain and knife across her body. There were times J.L. did not want Perez to engage in certain acts but did not feel that using her safe word would be effective. In a different relationship, Perez choked A.M. about 25 to 30 percent of the time during sex, either with his hands or with a belt. He told A.M. about kidnapping scenarios he had tried with others. One involved a group of men driving around and taking turns having intercourse with a female in the van; Perez asked A.M. to act as that female. Although there was testimony Perez was considered a "safe" player in the BDSM community who acted only with consent, detectives found avideo of Perez beating a woman with various implements as she begged him to stop and continuing to beat her past the point of consciousness.
All three defendants had BDSM abduction, torture, and murder fantasies. Lopez's diary contained a ciphered writing in which she abducted, tortured, and killed someone she disliked, disposing of the body and dousing evidence with bleach. Maraglino authored a writing about abducting three generations of women, each one "prescribed a method of death" and subjected to sexual torture, torture, and forced suicide. Maraglino authored a separate writing, found in Perez's garage, in which she slit the throat of a woman while that woman was having sex with Perez. Maraglino made a handwritten list of "hunting ground[s]" for vulnerable victims that included ways to dispose of a body and avoid detection. Perez and Maraglino discussed their abduction fantasies with Dora B., another of Maraglino's slaves, on two or three occasions. At one point, Maraglino asked Dora how she would react if a kidnapped woman were brought to the home. Dora worried these fantasies "didn't always take consent into account," but she "wanted to believe that it was nothing more than a fantasy."
Perez and Maraglino acted out an abduction fantasy on Nicole A. Without prior agreement, Perez and Maraglino picked up Nicole in a parking lot, blindfolded her, undressed her in the "dungeon" in the basement of Maraglino's home, restrained her, and engaged in BDSM play. Thereafter, Nicole voluntarily joined the household for a short period as Maraglino's slave.
Perez and Maraglino had an open relationship, but Maraglino was paranoid about losing him to another woman. Nicole's relationship with Maraglino soured becauseNicole communicated with Perez directly, rather than go through her. As their relationship deteriorated, Maraglino made threatening statements toward Nicole's daughter. When Perez began seeing Marina V., Maraglino talked about killing Marina and wanting her to die a torturous death; in an online forum, she threatened to kill Marina and Marina's daughter. Perez and Maraglino briefly broke up over Marina; they soon rekindled their relationship and in 2011 conceived a child.
Although there was some evidence the relationship between Perez and Maraglino became more conventional after they reunited, there was also evidence they remained involved in BDSM. Lopez remained Maraglino's slave. Maraglino kept her BDSM toys and, on the day of Killgore's disappearance on April 13, 2012, sent Deborah E. a text message about a forced lactation-torture fantasy.3 On the day before Killgore's disappearance, Perez texted Al.E. about upcoming plans to engage in BDSM play with someone he did not like, which to Al.E. was a "very big red flag." Al.E. told Perez not to go through with it, but he said it would give him "control to temper my feelings and not hurt[] someone I want to hurt badly."
Killgore's close friend, Elizabeth Hernandez, became friends with Maraglino in 2011. Hernandez would often visit Maraglino's home and bring Killgore with her. Killgore and Hernandez were not involved in BDSM, but both knew that defendants were. Although Maraglino was initially friendly with Killgore, she became hostile toward her after she perceived Killgore flirting with Perez. Maraglino called Killgore"the disease" and "the herpes" when she was not around; asked why Hernandez and Killgore were always together; and seemingly in jest, offered to get rid of Killgore for Hernandez. There was some evidence Maraglino wanted to recruit Hernandez into the BDSM lifestyle because Hernandez seemed impressionable and easy to control. On April 13, 2012, the day of Killgore's disappearance, Maraglino wrote a letter stating:
Lopez appeared to have a better relationship with Killgore, but she, like Maraglino, called Killgore "the disease" and "herpes" and joked, on April 13, 2012, that she would make Killgore walk the plank at her pool party the...
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