People v. Poore

• Decision Date: 27 June 2022
• Docket Number: S104665
• Citation: 13 Cal.5th 266,512 P.3d 39,295 Cal.Rptr.3d 86
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Christopher Eric POORE, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

13 Cal.5th 266

512 P.3d 39

295 Cal.Rptr.3d 86

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Christopher Eric POORE, Defendant and Appellant.

S104665

Supreme Court of California.

June 27, 2022

R. Clayton Seaman, Jr., and Patricia A. Scott, Alameda, under appointments by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Ronald S. Matthias, Assistant Attorney General, Theodore M. Cropley, Anthony Da Silva and Michael T. Murphy, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Opinion of the Court by Corrigan, J.

Defendant Christopher Eric Poore shot and killed Mark Kulikov and took two carloads of his property. He was convicted of first degree murder, robbery, burglary, and firearm possession by a felon.¹ The jury found that defendant had fired a gun and committed the murder for financial gain and by means of lying in wait² but rejected all gang enhancement allegations.³ The penalty was set at death. The court denied a motion to modify the death verdict, imposed a $10,000 restitution fine, and stayed additional sentences totaling 41 years to life in prison. We affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Guilt Phase

1. Prosecution Evidence

a. Planning

In 1998, defendant was housed in Pelican Bay State Prison (Pelican Bay). Prison authorities had "validated" him as an associate of the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist gang.⁴ While awaiting parole, defendant told inmate Michael Hammett, another Aryan Brotherhood associate, that he wanted to become a full member of the gang and a "shot caller." Typically, Aryan Brotherhood aspirants were required to commit violent crimes to gain entry. Once released, defendant planned to earn membership by "tak[ing] care of" some undisclosed business for the gang. Hammett put defendant in touch with his wife, Kathleen O'Donnell. O'Donnell frequently acted as a go-between for Aryan Brotherhood inmates and people outside prison.

When paroled, defendant flew to Crescent City to help O'Donnell move, and the two began a romantic relationship. Because this trip violated the terms of his parole, defendant was briefly reincarcerated at the California Institute for Men at Chino.

In the fall of 1999, defendant was out of jail and living in a Palm Springs townhouse that belonged to his mother's fiancé. He drove a new Jeep and kept a DeLorean in the garage. He was romantically involved with Melinda McGuire, a methamphetamine user who spent time at her friend Mark Kulikov's house. Kulikov also occasionally allowed Debra Feller and Brian White to stay there. McGuire introduced Kulikov to defendant, who began visiting the home.

b. The Murder and Related Crimes

McGuire went to defendant's townhouse on November 6, 1999, and the next day they visited her sister, Cherice Wiggins. Wiggins was trying to sell a .32-caliber Colt revolver, and defendant expressed interest in buying it. He said he wanted the gun to confront someone named Morris. Morris McCormies was another person who frequented Kulikov's home. Wiggins either loaned defendant the gun or allowed him to pay for it later. She gave him the weapon and ammunition inside a black plastic box.

On November 8, defendant and Jamie Wolden drove to Kulikov's house looking for McCormies, who owed Wolden money. Kulikov was home with two visitors, Debra Feller and Gary Richards. Kulikov gave Wolden a beer, then walked into the bedroom with defendant. Shortly thereafter, Wolden joined them. Defendant asked Kulikov for drugs or money, but Kulikov said he had none. He invited defendant to take his stereo, television, or anything else that he could pawn. Defendant protested that he needed more because "he was about to lose his Jeep." Although the men had been conversing calmly, defendant suddenly pulled a revolver and shot Kulikov several times. Kulikov, who was unarmed, never rose from his chair. As defendant left the room, he told Wolden that Aryan Brotherhood members had told him to commit the murder. He reminded everyone in the house that "his bros get out on parole every day," which Wolden understood as a threat to anyone who "snitch[ed]."

Defendant removed the empty shell casings, put them in his pocket, and reloaded the revolver. He directed Wolden and Richards to take two large stereo speakers to his townhouse. He covered Kulikov's body with a blanket, ordered Debra Feller to pack her things, and asked where he could find a floor safe that he believed contained drugs and jewelry. Feller said there was no safe but defendant refused to believe her, and they looked for it throughout the house. Defendant collected electronics equipment and other valuables, packing them in large boxes.

Wolden and Richards drove to defendant's residence as instructed and unloaded Kulikov's speakers in the garage. Richards remained at the townhouse with McGuire, and Wolden drove back to Kulikov's house. Once there, Wolden called defendant names, expressing his displeasure about the murder, then walked home.

Brian White arrived at Kulikov's house around 4:00 p.m. Defendant displayed his gun, and Feller told White, "Just do what he says." Defendant said the Aryan Brotherhood had ordered him to kill Kulikov and take his drugs because Kulikov was not doing enough to help people in the gang. White did not believe this explanation but helped defendant search the house. White and Feller then drove more of Kulikov's possessions to the townhouse. McGuire was at the townhouse and noticed Feller crying. Feller told her that defendant had shot and killed Kulikov. Confronted by McGuire, defendant replied, "He's just asleep, asleep for good." He told McGuire he shot Kulikov five times but refused to explain why.

Later that evening, White and Feller drove back to Kulikov's house to retrieve their own belongings. Once away from defendant, they drove to Yucca Valley and ultimately decided to contact the police.

Around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. the next night, defendant and McGuire went to the home of Jo-Lin Ferdinand and Cameron Blodgett. The couple was away on vacation, and defendant had been house-sitting for them. At one point, McGuire heard defendant moving bricks or rocks on the patio. Later she noticed that defendant no longer had her sister's gun. He explained that he had buried it.

c. Arrest and Investigation

An anonymous caller told police someone was dead in Kulikov's house. Responding officers entered through the unlocked back door. They discovered Kulikov's body in the master bedroom, slumped on a chair and partially covered by a comforter. He had been shot three times in the face, twice in the chest, and once in the hand. The house was in disarray, and his vehicle was missing.

Later that evening, White and Feller called the Palm Springs Police Department to report the murder. Detectives interviewed them separately and arrested White for a parole violation. Feller led detectives to defendant's empty townhouse, then later recognized defendant's Jeep parked in Blodgett's driveway. The officers obtained Blodgett's phone number and had Feller call it as a ruse to get defendant to leave the house. It worked. Defendant asked Feller if something was wrong, then hung up. Shortly afterward, defendant and McGuire left the residence and were taken into custody.

Police searched the townhouse and found a black plastic gun box containing .32-caliber ammunition. Five expended .32-caliber shell casings were recovered from a trash bag. Stereo equipment, speakers, cameras, a television, and other items belonging to Kulikov were located in the townhouse and garage. Kulikov's truck was seized from the Morongo Valley residence where White and Feller had parked it.

The Blodgett-Ferdinand house was also searched. Looking under some missing bricks and freshly turned dirt in the backyard, a detective found a .32-caliber Colt revolver with six live rounds in the cylinder. Ballistics matched the expended cartridges from the trash bag to the recovered Colt. Bullets recovered from the crime scene could have been fired from the Colt but were too damaged to yield a definitive match.

Defendant talked about the murders while in the county jail. Seeing Steven Pearson's Aryan Brotherhood tattoo, defendant told Pearson he had tried to become a member by robbing a drug dealer for the gang. Instead, "he got frustrated and shot the guy in the head and chest" while the victim was sitting in his bedroom. Defendant said he took the man's property and hid the gun under some bricks at another house. He also confessed to his cellmate, Neal O'Neill, saying he shot a man in the body, hand, and head while in the back bedroom of the man's house. He claimed to have been acting as "a hitman for the Aryan Brotherhood." Afterward, he had hidden the gun underneath a brick in a backyard patio.

d. Efforts to Intimidate and Eliminate Witnesses

Defendant wrote McGuire a letter from jail instructing her to testify he had not obtained a gun from her sister and that she never knew him to possess any gun. He opined that any contrary statements she had given to the authorities were "bullshit" and must have been coerced. Rather than give false testimony, McGuire turned the letter over to the police.

In January 2000, defendant's sister mailed Kathleen O'Donnell a packet of police reports and related materials in the Kulikov murder case. At that time, O'Donnell and defendant communicated about his case almost daily. O'Donnell highlighted portions of the documents reflecting Brian White's cooperation with police and child molestation charges that had been dismissed. Testimony from a longtime Aryan Brotherhood member and other associates established that this paperwork was a "death warrant" for White. At defendant's direction, O'Donnell sent the annotated packet and White's mug shot to Kenneth Cook, a gang associate who was in the same prison where White was incarcerated for his parole violation.

Defendant and Cook had been in the county jail together before Cook was transferred...