People v. Page

• Citation: 79 Cal.Rptr.3d 4,44 Cal. 4th 1,186 P.3d 395
• Decision Date: 26 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. S065707.,S065707.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Terrance Charles PAGE, Defendant and Appellant.

186 P.3d 395

79 Cal.Rptr.3d 4

44 Cal. 4th 1

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Terrance Charles PAGE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S065707.

Supreme Court of California.

June 26, 2008.

Barry Helft, Interim State Public Defender, and Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and William Hassler, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, William M. Wood, Raquel M. Gonzalez and Holly D. Wilkens, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

GEORGE, C.J.

A jury convicted defendant Terrance Charles Page of the first degree murder of Tahisha Clay (Pen.Code, § 187, subd. (a)) and of the commission of a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14 years (Pen.Code § 288, subd. (a)).¹ The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of a lewd act upon a child. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(v).) Following the penalty phase of the trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. Defendant moved for a new trial (§ 1181), to strike the special circumstance finding, and to reduce 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 a prison term of eight years for the commission of a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14 years. (§ 288, subd. (a).) This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. FACTS

A. Guilt phase evidence

1. The prosecution case

a. Summary

Tahisha Clay, six years of age, disappeared on April 23, 1993, when she chased a ball down a hill to an area outside of defendant's apartment. Her body was discovered the next day in a mine pit seven miles away. She had been brutally beaten, suffocated, sexually assaulted, and strangled to death. A swab taken from the outside of her vagina revealed saliva consistent with defendant's genetic profile. Blood discovered on one of defendant's shirts was consistent with Tahisha's genetic profile. A plastic star found embedded in defendant's carpet matched stick-on earrings Tahisha was wearing shortly before she disappeared. Soil on a pair of defendant's pants, on a pair of his boots, and on a mat from one of his vehicles was consistent with the minerals in the mine where Tahisha's body was dumped. There also was evidence establishing that defendant lied when he told the police he had stayed home the evening Tahisha disappeared, and that he had visited a restaurant that evening on the route between his home and the mine where Tahisha's body was found. Defendant exhibited an attitude that evening that evoked suspicion, and he attempted to commit suicide the day after Tahisha's body was discovered.

Because defendant contends the police unreasonably focused upon him to the exclusion of other suspects, and planted evidence to implicate him in the crimes, we describe the evidence as it was developed by the police investigation.

b. Tahisha's disappearance

Tahisha resided in the Rimrock Apartments in Barstow with her mother, Marianne Clay, her brother Stefan, nine years of age, and her mother's boyfriend, Frank Mond. The apartment complex was surrounded on three sides by a solid block wall five to six feet high, and on the fourth and front side by an iron fence six feet high. An access code was required to open the gate that secured the entrance to the complex. Tahisha's father, David Clay, served in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Hunter Liggett, about 80 miles south of Monterey. During David's last visit with Tahisha and Stefan in February 1993, he took the children to a mall in Bakersfield, where he purchased for Tahisha a card of "stick-on" earrings. At the conclusion of the visit, Tahisha returned with the earrings to Barstow.

On the day Tahisha disappeared — Friday, April 23, 1993 — her mother picked her up from kindergarten at 4:00 p.m., and they arrived home about five minutes later. On that particular day, Marianne found in her vehicle Tahisha's card of stick-on earrings, and gave them to Tahisha. Marianne explained to Tahisha that on the card particular earrings were assigned to particular days, and that Tahisha should wear a pair of "Friday" earrings because it was Friday. The "Friday" earrings were star-shaped. When they arrived home, Tahisha went upstairs to their apartment, taking the card of earrings with her. Her brother Stefan saw her put on star-shaped earrings in their room after she came home from school.

Just prior to 5:00 p.m., Marianne drove Stefan to his piano lesson, and they returned at approximately 5:40 p.m. While Marianne and Stefan were away a neighbor, Ulrike Meyers, watched Tahisha. After they returned from the piano lesson, Tahisha came back to the apartment for about 10 minutes, and then went back outside. Her mother last saw her sometime after 6:00 p.m. when Tahisha was playing with other children at the playground located outside the apartment.

Stefan soon joined Tahisha, and they began tossing a ball back and forth to each other. At some point, the ball rolled down a hill and toward two satellite dishes that were located on the grounds of the apartment complex. Tahisha went to retrieve the ball, and Stefan saw her for the last time when she walked down the hill toward the satellite dishes. As Stefan watched Tahisha head down the hill, he heard their mother call to them to come inside. Stefan then turned around to go back to their apartment. He went upstairs with his mother and told her Tahisha had gone to get the ball.

Approximately 10 minutes later, about 7:00 p.m., Marianne told Stefan to find Tahisha, but he was unable to locate her. Marianne then checked at Meyers's apartment and at the apartments of Tahisha's friends, but Tahisha was not at these locations. Meyers estimated that Marianne came looking for Tahisha after 7:00 p.m., perhaps 7:30 p.m., and that it was starting to get dark. Marianne and other adults then walked around the entire apartment complex, yelling Tahisha's name, but she was not found. By this time, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Frank Mond, Marianne's boyfriend, returned home. Mond contacted the Barstow Police Department and reported that Tahisha was missing.

In the meantime, as it was getting dark on Friday evening,² Michael Elston, another child who lived at the apartment complex, found Tahisha's ball inside a fence surrounding the satellite dishes.

c. The first week of the police investigation

i. The search of the apartment complex

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on April 23, the first police officers arrived at the large apartment complex and coordinated efforts among officers and private citizens to check all the apartments and areas of the complex. Detective Mark Franey of the Barstow Police Department arrived at the apartment complex at approximately midnight. Franey was informed that efforts had been made to telephone or visit every apartment in the complex, and that someone had been contacted at all but four or five of the units. According to the information received by Franey, one of the apartments at which there had been no response was defendant's apartment. Another belonged to the manager of the apartment complex, who was out of town. The other apartments were vacant.

Defendant's apartment was located directly across from the satellite dishes where Tahisha's ball was found. The apartment had a sliding glass door that faced the satellite dishes. Stefan and his friends sometimes played in the area in front of defendant's apartment, and on occasion defendant emerged from his apartment and yelled at them. Approximately two weeks prior to Tahisha's disappearance, she and her friend, Carrie Pizzo, 11 years of age, were riding their bicycles in front of defendant's apartment when defendant exited through his sliding glass door and told the girls to "get the hell out of there." Eight or nine months earlier, defendant had approached Ashley Cook, one of Tahisha's kindergarten classmates who also resided at the Rimrock Apartments. Ashley was riding her bicycle in circles and singing when defendant attempted to grab her and told her she was being too noisy. Between 1:00 and 1:15 a.m. on Saturday as the search continued, Tahisha's mother told Detective Franey about the incident involving Ashley Cook, and Louis Jannsen, the maintenance man for the apartment complex, told Franey that defendant was "kind of weird." Franey also learned at this time that defendant's apartment was located near the satellite dishes.

Jannsen and Barstow Police Detective Leo Griego then went to the apartment manager's office to obtain information concerning defendant, and Franey walked to the area of the satellite dishes. By this time, officers had expanded their search outside of the apartment complex and had found a ball similar to Tahisha's ball in a nearby park. Franey traveled to the park, recovered the ball, and returned to the Clay apartment at approximately 1:55 a.m., but Marianne informed Franey that the recovered ball was not Tahisha's ball.

ii. First contacts with defendant

The police first contacted defendant at 2:35 a.m. on Saturday, April 24. Defendant answered the door and invited Detectives Franey and Griego inside. They informed defendant they were conducting an investigation concerning a missing child, and Griego asked him the general questions the police had been asking all the tenants. Defendant stated that he had not seen Tahisha and that he did not recognize her photograph. They soon were interrupted by a third officer who called away Griego.

Detective Franey then assumed charge of the interview. Because Franey believed that defendant had been seen earlier at the apartment complex but had not answered his...