People v. Matta
| Decision Date | 31 March 1976 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 2077 |
| Citation | 129 Cal.Rptr. 205,57 Cal.App.3d 472 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Francisco Alvarado MATTA, Defendant and Appellant. |
GEO. A. BROWN, Presiding Justice.
Appellant was convicted by a jury of second degree murder in violation of Penal Code section 187. He was denied probation and sentenced to state prison for the term prescribed by law. He was acquitted of a charge of assault with force likely to produce great bodily harm (Pen.Code, § 245), which charge had been consolidated with the murder charge for trial.
The victim, John Fetzer, was taken to the hospital on March 19, 1974, and died there on April 30, 1974. The immediate cause of death was pneumonia which began to develop on April 27--28.
On March 4, 1974, John Fetzer, a farm laborer, withdrew $826 from his bank account in Dos Palos and then went to Merced and rented an apartment. It appears that the victim and appellant occupied separate apartments in the same apartment complex.
On March 19, 1974, the landlord entered Fetzer's apartment and discovered him lying on his bed in a cramped position and called an ambulance. The apartment had no ventilation and the odor of urine was distinct. There were wine and beer bottles and cans on the floor, and it appeared that the victim had vomited. The apartment was filthy and in complete disarray. The evidence developed that over a period of time the victim had been giving money to people to purchase beer and liquor for him.
When Fetzer was discovered he had blood on his head and near his left eye and was unconscious. There was blood on his face and on his shirt which was on the floor. There were bruise marks on his back, rib cage, and the sides of his arms. Neither a wallet nor any money was found.
Ernestine Mosby, who lived in the same apartment complex, was in another apartment with about five other people on March 17, 1974, when appellant, who also lived in the apartment complex, knocked on the door at 3:30 or 4 p.m. looking for someone to go to the store. Mrs. Mosby agreed to go and she went with appellant to Mr. Fetzer's apartment.
Appellant told Fetzer to clean up his apartment; when Fetzer said he did not feel like it, appellant snatched him off the bed and pushed him into the kitchen where he told Fetzer to give him some money to buy beer. Appellant shouted, John Fetzer at first told appellant he had no money, but then gave him a $50 bill, which appellant gave to Mrs. Mosby to buy him some beer.
About 10 or 15 minutes after returning with a couple of six-packs of beer and some cupcakes, Mrs. Mosby returned to Mr. Fetzer's apartment with appellant. Appellant asked Mr. Fetzer for some money to clean up his apartment, and Mr. Fetzer said that he had none and told him he wanted to sleep and they would have to leave. Appellant then pulled him from his bed and hit him twice in the stomach and then across his head with his hands clasped together. Appellant hit him in the groin. Appellant also hit the victim near the tail bone and then said to him, Fetzer did not fight back. Mrs. Mosby left before appellant, and when she went to the door in the early morning hours of March 18 she saw appellant with his pants down and Fetzer lying on the bed, also with his pants down. Appellant came stumbling to the door and said
Julie Williams, Mrs. Mosby's sister, was also in Fetzer's apartment with appellant on the afternoon of March 17. She saw Fetzer lying on his bed, and when he refused to give appellant any money to buy beer appellant hit him in the groin, chest and stomach, at which time Fetzer gave him $50 to buy beer. Julie Williams described what appellant did during his hitting of the victim as follows: She saw appellant push Fetzer's head against the wall and squeeze his head between the bed and the wall.
Larry Williams, Mrs. Mosby's brother, also witnessed appellant's beating of Fetzer and substantially corroborated the testimony of Mosby and Julie Williams. At one point Williams said to him,
Richard Edward Warness, the physician who examined the victim in the emergency room of the Merced County Hospital, said that Fetzer appeared to be approximately 65 years old. The victim would move only when a painful stimulus was applied. His left pupil was larger than the right, which usually indicates severe head trauma. The victim had multiple contusions about the face and upper chest, and Dr. Warness felt his head injuries were severe.
Dr. Warness concluded that he had been in the same clothing for several days as he had urinated and defecated on them. It also appeared he had not eaten for several days.
Ernest F. Bergmann, Jr., is a physician who was on duty in the emergency room when the victim was admitted. He examined him later in the day when Fetzer was in the intensive care unit and found extensive trauma to the head and body, with bruises on the torso and chest. The victim reacted to painful stimuli only, and one eye was greatly dilated.
Leon M. Becker, a neurosurgeon, operated on the victim on March 20 to remove a blood clot on his brain. Such a condition is generally caused by a blow to the head. The operation, which was necessary to sustain Mr. Fetzer's life, succeeded in removing the clot. However, it was necessary to repeat the operation six days later as the subdural hematoma had recurred.
Roland C. Kreps, Jr., a physician and radiologist who reviewed the X-rays of Fetzer, discovered fractures of the sixth and ninth ribs. Also, the X-rays of March 19 revealed what was probably blood in the air sacs of the lungs due to a traumatic injury. The lung area was basically cleared on March 25, yet there was residual density. The density in the air sacs increased on April 12, and on April 30 the victim died.
Dorian R. Faber, a physician and pathologist who performed an autopsy on the victim on May 1, noted the extensive degeneration in the lungs and large abscess cavities. The immediate cause of demise was nephritizing bronchopneumonia. He said it is a reasonable conclusion that the blows of March 17 and 18 resulted in the death.
Dr. Faber stated that on April 27 and 28 Fetzer began to develop fulminating pneumonia, which is a type of pneumonia of a patient who has sustained some sort of trauma or injury or harm to the body.
The victim required ten transfusions of whole blood and blood materials.
Dr. Faber testified that the injuries to the head and other parts of the body could have caused the pneumonia since severe head injuries compromise the ability of the lungs to function normally. In Dr. Faber's opinion, if the victim had already had pneumonia when he was admitted to the hospital he would not have lived the six weeks.
Appellant was arrested on March 19, 1974, at about 5 p.m. and charged with assault with a force likely to produce great bodily harm. (Pen.Code, § 245.) When the victim died on April 30 appellant was charged with murder. (Pen.Code, § 187.)
Appellant testified in his defense. He first stated that although he had been trying to recall what happened on March 17, 1974, he could not remember. He did recall spending the previous night at his mother's house in Merced. He remembered drinking beer in the park between noon and 5 p.m. with Cruz Lopez, who also resided in the apartment complex. Appellant testified that he was drunk and Lopez drove him back to his mother's house.
Appellant claimed that he could not recall being at the victim's apartment on March 17. Appellant testified that one day Fetzer had been drinking and fell on the cement and hit his head and that appellant picked him up and returned him to his apartment.
Although appellant admitted to having only two beers in the five-hour period he allegedly spent with Lopez, he claimed he was drunk before he met Lopez. Later during his testimony, however, appellant said he was not sure if he was drunk before he got to the park.
After testifying that all he could remember of March 17 was drinking in the park and then being driven to his mother's home by Cruz Lopez, appellant was able to recall walking to the bus depot after being taken to his mother's house and learning that a bus ticket to New Mexico would cost $57.77. He could not recall where he went after that, except that at some point he went to his apartment and broke a window to get in. He was also able to remember fighting with a girl he was living with on the morning of March 17.
Cruz Lopez testified that he lived in an apartment next to appellant's. He claimed that he saw appellant on the morning of March 17 when appellant was drinking beer with some other people around the apartments. He said that he and appellant were together in the park across the street from the apartments.
Lopez testified that during the time he was with appellant he never went to the victim's apartment. However, he did admit to seeking appellant talking to Fetzer around 4 p.m. Lopez said that he again saw appellant at 10 or 11 p.m., at which time he drove him back to his mother's house. Sometime after midnight Lopez heard a knocking at the door of appellant's apartment and...
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