People v. Medina

• Decision Date: 30 November 1995
• Docket Number: No. S012644,S012644
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 12 Cal.4th 651B, 906 P.2d 2, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9073, 95 Daily Journal D.A.R. 15,951 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Teofilo MEDINA, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

Page 165

47 Cal.Rptr.2d 165

11 Cal.4th 694, 12 Cal.4th 651B, 906 P.2d 2,

95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9073,

95 Daily Journal D.A.R. 15,951

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Teofilo MEDINA, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. S012644.

Supreme Court of California.

Nov. 30, 1995.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Jan. 24, 1996.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Frederick R. Millar, Jr., William M. Wood and Holly D. Wilkens, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LUCAS, Chief Justice.

Defendant Teofilo Medina, Jr., appeals from a judgment of the Riverside County Superior Court imposing the death penalty following his conviction of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187; all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise indicated), robbery (§ 211), burglary (§ 459), and personal firearm use (§ 12022.5), accompanied by two special circumstance findings: robbery murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i)) and burglary murder (id., subd. (a)(17)(vii)).

Prior to trial on the criminal charges, a hearing was held to determine defendant's competency to stand trial, and a jury determined that defendant was competent. A separate jury found defendant guilty as charged and ultimately returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied defendant's motion to modify the sentence (§ 190.4, subd. (e)), imposed the death penalty for the murder, and stayed execution of an aggregate 12-year sentence for the other offenses. Defendant's appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) As will appear, we will affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. FACTS

In People v. Medina (1990) 51 Cal.3d 870, 274 Cal.Rptr. 849, 799 P.2d 1282 (hereafter Medina I ), we affirmed a judgment of death entered by the Orange County Superior Court upon defendant's conviction of three counts of first degree murder. Our judgment was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court in Medina v. California (1992) 505 U.S. 437, 112 S.Ct. 2572, 120 L.Ed.2d 353. In our Medina I decision, we observed that "[f]rom October 13 to November 7, 1984, defendant engaged in a crime spree, stealing a gun from a pawnshop, holding up two gas stations, a drive-in dairy, and a market, killing three employees of these establishments (Horacio Ariza, Douglas Metal, and Victor Rea), attempting to rob a fourth employee (Moon Yoon), and shooting at two citizens (Cynthia Police and Daniel Barrow) who attempted to follow his getaway car." (51 Cal.3d at p. 879, 274 Cal.Rptr. 849, 799 P.2d 1282.)

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The present offenses occurred in Riverside County on or about October 18, 1984, during the course of the same crime spree described in Medina I, and involving yet another gas station burglary and robbery, and the murder of an attendant (Craig Martin). We briefly summarize the facts underlying these offenses.

On October 18, 1984, Craig Martin was working the night shift at an Arco gas station in Corona. At 1:10 a.m. on October 19, a customer found Martin's body lying on the floor and called police. A cash box was open and empty except for some pennies. Approximately $163 was missing. An autopsy confirmed that Martin had been shot, probably at close range. Shell fragments from a .22-caliber bullet were found nearby.

To link defendant to the Martin murder, the People introduced evidence of the uncharged murders of Ariza and Metal, referred to above. Ariza was killed on the evening of October 18, a few hours before victim Martin's body was discovered. Ariza, working at another Arco gas station, was shot in the head and shoulder, probably at close range. The cash drawer was empty; around $100 was missing. A witness saw a damaged green Maverick resembling defendant's car speed away from the station shortly before Ariza's body was discovered. The driver of the Maverick resembled defendant, who returned to his sister's home on the afternoon of October 19 carrying a sack filled with quarters, dimes, and nickels.

Victim Metal was shot and killed in the afternoon of November 4 at the drive-through dairy where he was employed. A "battered" green Maverick was seen parked and unoccupied, with its motor running, in front of the dairy shortly before Metal's body was discovered. He too had been shot at close range, suffering a "contact" gunshot wound to the head. The cash register was empty and $68 was missing. A partly empty Perrier bottle was found at the scene. A forensic expert testified with "100 percent" certainty that a fingerprint found on the bottle matched one of defendant's prints.

On October 23, defendant's sister, Sylvia Ayala, and others saw defendant with a large amount of cash (perhaps $300). The sister found a loaded handgun in defendant's shaving kit. She eventually placed the gun in the trunk of her car, where it was found after defendant's arrest. Defendant had stolen the gun from a pawn shop on October 13. Ballistics experts testified that although there were some "dissimilarities" in the marks made by defendant's gun, they nonetheless determined with "absolute certainty" that bullet fragments from the bodies of Martin, Ariza, and Metal were fired from this gun.

While being transported to the police station, an officer asked defendant about "the Corona murder." Defendant responded, "What do you want me to say?" After being told to tell the truth, defendant replied, "If I could only cry, but I can't cry. I couldn't even cry when my mother died."

Although defendant unsuccessfully attempted to relitigate the issue of his competence to stand trial (he had been found competent by a separate jury), he presented no other evidence at the guilt phase and, as previously stated, the jury found him guilty as charged.

At the penalty phase, the prosecution asked the jury to consider the guilt phase evidence and also presented evidence of defendant's murder of Victor Rea, evidence that had been excluded from the guilt phase. Rea had been shot at close range on November 5, 1984, at a service station in Santa Ana where he was employed. Approximately $166 in cash had been taken, and bullet fragments matched those fired from defendant's gun. Additionally, the prosecution introduced evidence of numerous prior incidents of defendant's violent activity, including assaults on civilians, prison inmates and guards, a forcible sex offense, and several prior convictions in California and Arizona (namely, discharging a firearm into an inhabited building, burglary, assault with deadly weapon, rape, kidnapping, and lewd and lascivious acts).

The defense introduced mitigating evidence from defendant's other sister, Irene McIntosh, regarding his childhood and family background.

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II. COMPETENCY PHASE ISSUES

We first review the facts underlying defendant's competency phase contentions. In October 1987, a few months after the complaint was filed charging defendant with the present offenses, the court initiated proceedings to determine defendant's competency to stand trial. (See § 1368.) Court appointed experts presented their reports, and a jury was selected to try the competency issue.

Dr. Kania, a defense expert, testified that defendant suffered from a psychotic disorder, probably schizophrenia, that he needed treatment, that he was not malingering, that he was unable to provide background about himself and could not understand the legal proceedings confronting him, and that he was incompetent to stand trial.

Dr. Oshrin, a prosecution expert, opined that although defendant was probably mentally ill to some degree, he was malingering, could understand the legal proceedings and could cooperate with counsel. Dr. Rath, another prosecution expert, concluded that defendant was competent, was malingering, and was merely unwilling, not unable, to cooperate with counsel. Dr. Sharma, a third prosecution expert, found defendant competent and probably malingering. All three prosecution experts believed that defendant "overdid" or unduly exaggerated his supposed mental illness during his interviews with them.

On March 16, 1988, the jury found defendant was competent to stand trial. Thereafter, on May 13, 1988, an information was filed charging the offenses previously named in the complaint and, on May 16, 1988, defendant pleaded not guilty to these charges.

On January 6, 1989, following disruptive conduct by defendant, the court again suspended proceedings and appointed experts to report regarding defendant's competency. On June 19, a few months after these experts filed their reports, the court terminated competency proceedings and ordered that defendant proceed to trial restrained with waist chains and leg irons during the remaining court proceedings. Selection of a new jury commenced on July 5, and trial on guilt issues began on August 14, 1989.

A. Prosecutorial Misconduct During Competency Phase

According to defendant, the prosecutor introduced "inflammatory and irrelevant" matters into the competency hearing, including (1) portraying defendant as a dangerous criminal by referring to his prior crimes and prior death sentence, (2) suggesting defendant could avoid punishment and possibly even escape from confinement if he were found incompetent, (3) informing the competency jury that another jury had found defendant sane and competent, and (4) improperly cross-examining the defense expert by referring to inadmissible studies and other materials. As will appear, no prejudicial misconduct occurred.

1. Prior Offenses and Convictions

Defendant complains that the prosecutor introduced information regarding defendant's prior offenses under the guise of questioning expert witnesses regarding the bases for their opinions. Thus, on cross-examination of Dr. Kania, the prosecutor asked if the witness was aware that defendant had been convicted of 25 felonies, including 3 counts of murder with special circumstances. Similarly, the prosecutor asked Dr. Oshrin whether he was aware of defen...