People v. Robinson

• Decision Date: 15 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. S040703.,S040703.
• Citation: 124 P.3d 363,37 Cal.4th 592,36 Cal.Rptr.3d 760
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James ROBINSON, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

36 Cal.Rptr.3d 760

37 Cal.4th 592

124 P.3d 363

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James ROBINSON, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. S040703.

The Supreme Court of California

December 15, 2005.

Susan K. Marr, Brentwood, TN, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Sharlene A. Honnaka and Analee J. Brodie, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

GEORGE, C.J.

Defendant James Robinson, Jr., appeals from a judgment of the Los Angeles Superior Court imposing a sentence of death following his conviction of two counts of first degree murder of James White and Brian Berry (Pen.Code, § 187, subd. (a))¹ and one count of second degree robbery (id., § 211). The jury found true both robbery-murder and multiple-murder special-circumstance allegations. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3) & (17).) The jury also found true the allegations that defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of the offenses. (§§ 1203.06, subd. (a)(1); 12022.5, subd. (a).) After the initial penalty phase proceedings ended in mistrial, a new jury was selected to consider the question of penalty, and that jury fixed the punishment at death. In addition to imposing a judgment of death for each murder conviction, the trial court sentenced defendant to the midterm of three years for the robbery plus four years for the weapons enhancements. Defendant's appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. FACTS

A. Guilt Phase Evidence

1. The prosecution's case

Defendant James Robinson, Jr., was a student at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he lived in a dormitory and had a part-time job on campus. In the spring of 1990 he had not paid his tuition or student fees and stopped attending classes. Defendant moved to a condominium, which he shared with roommates near the CSUN campus. In August 1990 he began a part-time job at a nearby Subway sandwich shop, where he worked for approximately five months. Stuart Schlosser, owner of the Subway shop, described defendant as a courteous and cooperative employee, but also noted that defendant and another employee had been "let go" after he (Schlosser) confronted them concerning money that was missing and warned that, if the money was not returned, they would be "terminated." After leaving employment at the Subway shop, defendant continued to patronize the shop and had pleasant interactions with Schlosser.

Defendant found a part-time job as a meat wrapper at a supermarket and remained there for three months. In April 1991 defendant's credit union assessed various overcharge fees and ultimately closed his checking account because he had written more than three overdrawn checks in the prior six months. A second supermarket hired defendant as a part-time employee in May 1991. Meanwhile, defendant's newspaper subscription was cancelled for lack of payment, and a debt collection agency pursued him concerning other obligations. Defendant cashed his paychecks at the supermarkets where he worked and kept most of his money in currency. The credit union ultimately reversed some of the overcharge fees, and defendant was able to honor each of the returned checks.

Defendant terminated his condominium lease in May 1991 and moved into an apartment occupied by Tai Williams (Williams), his friend since seventh grade. Williams shared that apartment with his girlfriend, Donna Morgan, and their baby daughter. During this period, defendant began to work full time for Lucky's supermarket in the meat department, where he met Dennis Ostrander (Ostrander), who occasionally loaned defendant money for lunch or bus fare.

Williams owned a gun, as did another mutual friend, Tommy Aldridge (Aldridge), whom defendant also had known since seventh grade. Williams frequently took defendant and Aldridge to a nearby shooting range for target practice. In early June 1991, defendant purchased an inexpensive .380 semiautomatic handgun to use for target practice. He testified that he purchased the firearm because previously at the practice range he had been forced to rent expensive guns for which ammunition also was quite costly, and he wanted instead to have a simple and serviceable gun that would use less expensive ammunition. After the mandatory 15-day waiting period expired, defendant took possession of the gun on June 18, 1991.

Williams testified that defendant's behavior then changed and that he began to handle and play with the gun and became "obsessed" with it. In addition, Williams testified, defendant "became, quote, unquote, a bigger man, you know, because he had all this protection behind him so now he could walk and talk big." Williams explained that defendant's possession of the gun gave him "an attitude, like he was just invincible" and that "wherever he went the gun went. . . . And you could just tell, you know. When someone changes you can just tell."

Williams also testified that, when defendant still was working at the Subway shop and on numerous occasions well before defendant moved into Williams's apartment in June 1991, defendant mentioned the possibility of robbing the Subway shop because he needed money. Williams related that defendant said the shop would be an easy target "because he . . . knew the place." According to Williams, he told defendant he was crazy and assumed defendant was joking.

These conversations, Williams explained, recurred on numerous occasions after defendant moved into Williams's apartment in June 1991. Williams recounted that defendant told him how he planned to rob the Subway shop and repeated that he would do so because he needed money: "He told me he was going to go in and order some food. After that he was going to hold `em up, and if, when he went in, . . . they were people that he knew he would have to kill them, shoot them execution style." According to Williams, defendant also spoke specifically of his "need to get his hands on some money," the layout of the shop, the absence of security cameras, the use of pliers to remove money from the shop's safe, and the relative ease of escaping through the shop's back door.

Williams testified that he went with defendant to the Subway shop on one occasion after defendant had ceased working there and that defendant, after joking with the employees, commented to Williams as they left the shop, "Well, too bad if they are in there. Too bad. I'll have to kill them if they are in there."

Aldridge testified that he was present at Williams's apartment when, approximately one week prior to the commission of the crimes, defendant spoke of his need for money to pay various bills and his plan to commit a robbery at either the Subway shop or a gas station, or perhaps to rob a person walking on the street. According to Aldridge, defendant raised the subject again two days later, also while at Williams's apartment, with Williams and Donna Morgan also present. On that occasion, defendant focused his plan upon the Subway shop at which he had worked. According to Aldridge, defendant asserted that he "knew the hours. He knew the people who worked there. He knew . . . where the safe was and what he decided to do was pick this individual Subway because it was the easiest target for him to rob."

Aldridge recounted a third conversation that occurred at Williams's apartment, in which defendant repeated his plan to rob the Subway shop that weekend and execute the employees who were on duty at that time by "lay[ing] them down and blow[ing] them away at the back of their heads, using his words." Aldridge testified that he and Williams were "pretty much trying to discourage [defendant] from trying to rob somebody. We knew we had no control over [him]. He had just purchased a gun. He was really excited about that. We were more or less trying to save his life and getting him out of a bad situation." Nevertheless, Aldridge testified, defendant stated that although he "felt bad" that he would have to kill people whom he knew, he also repeatedly stated that he needed money and didn't "give a damn. They are going to die because I need the money." Aldridge asserted that he declined defendant's request for a ride to the planned robbery because "one, . . . it was a crazy idea, and two, my car was being painted that weekend." Aldridge asserted that neither he nor Williams believed that defendant actually would commit the planned robbery, because defendant "was one for talking and not doing things."

Williams further testified that on Saturday, June 29, 1991, he informed defendant that defendant would have to move out of the apartment because he (defendant) had told Donna Morgan "things that weren't true" (that Williams had been unfaithful to her) and because defendant had caused Williams's telephone to be disconnected due to nonpayment of defendant's long distance bills. During that conversation Williams left defendant alone in the apartment living room at one point, and thereafter Williams and Donna heard defendant load his gun. Williams testified that Donna mentioned that defendant was loading his gun and that Williams replied to her, "don't worry, he is not a fool."

Williams testified that, after defendant left the apartment, he checked the "gun box" that defendant kept in the living room on the side of the couch and found it empty.² Defendant returned to the apartment half an hour later and asked to speak with Williams, who met him outside the front door. Williams testified that defendant was depressed and crying and that he told Williams that he loved Williams like a brother, did not want Williams to be "like him," and wanted Williams to be "better than him." According to Williams, defendant then gave him a note, the general contents of which he could not recall, but the last line of which read, "pray for me."

Because defendant had no other place...