People v. Roldan

• Court: California Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WERDEGAR, J.
• Citation: People v. Roldan, 110 P.3d 289, 35 Cal.4th 646, 27 Cal.Rptr.3d 360 (Cal. 2005)
• Decision Date: 25 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. S030644.,S030644.
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ricardo ROLDAN, Defendant and Appellant.

27 Cal.Rptr.3d 360

35 Cal.4th 646

110 P.3d 289

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ricardo ROLDAN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S030644.

Supreme Court of California.

April 25, 2005.

Rehearing Denied June 8, 2005.

Certiorari Denied October 31, 2005.

Timothy J. Foley, under appointment by the Supreme Court, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Keith H. Borjon, John R. Gorey and Sharlene A. Honnaka, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certiorari Denied October 31, 2005. See 126 S.Ct. 570.

WERDEGAR, J.

Ricardo Roldan was convicted in 1992 in Los Angeles County Superior Court of the first degree murder of Roland Teal (Pen.Code, § 187; all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise indicated) and the robbery and attempted murder of Barney Pipkin (§§ 211, 664/187). The jury found true a special circumstance allegation that defendant murdered Teal while engaged in committing a robbery (§ 190.2, former subd. (a)(17)(i), now subd. (a)(17)(A)) and also sustained three lesser enhancement allegations (§§ 12022.5, subd. (a) [personal use of a firearm], 12022, subd. (a)(1) [participation in a felony in which a principal was armed with a firearm], 12022.1 [on-bail enhancement]). On October 26, 1992, the jury set the penalty at death under the 1978 death penalty law. (§ 190.1 et seq.) This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

After considering the claims raised on appeal, we affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. GUILT PHASE

A. Facts

In 1990, defendant was free on bail while being prosecuted on charges he had participated in a robbery at the Sun Valley swap meet. On June 3 of that year, a different swap meet in San Fernando closed at the usual time of 3:00 p.m. Manager Barney Pipkin followed his usual procedure, collecting the receipts from the two ticket booths and then returning to the reservation office to count the day's receipts with assistant manager Judy Adams. Leticia Calderon and Maria Murillo also worked in the office. On this day, the receipts were more than $12,000, mostly in cash, which Pipkin and Adams bundled and placed into seven bags bound together at the top with rubber bands.

Pipkin, with Adams's help, then began loading his car trunk with various items, saving the bags of money for last, as was his custom. As Adams handed him the bags to load into the car, someone said: "Don't fucking move." Adams turned and observed a young Latino male in a long coat, although it was over 100 degrees that day. He had a gun, somewhat obscured by his coat. Adams turned to run, but the gunman pointed the gun at her and repeated: "I said don't anybody fucking move." Calderon and Murillo heard this second command. Calderon heard a clicking metal-on-metal sound, as if the gunman had pulled the trigger but the gun had misfired. Calderon and Murillo identified defendant as the gunman.

A second young Latino man, later determined to be 17-year-old Sergio Ayala, approached Pipkin and wrestled the bags of money from him. The two robbers then fled on foot. Pipkin and Calderon shouted that they had been robbed, while Adams returned to the office and called the police. Pipkin got into his car and attempted to follow the robbers. Both Pipkin and Calderon noticed a white Camaro parked in a driveway nearby.

Juan Jimenez was working at the swap meet as a security guard when he heard Calderon yelling. He saw the robber (Ayala) with the bags and gave chase, but the white car, driven by a third robber later identified as Richard Zorns, moved back and forth, blocking his path. Jimenez continued his pursuit, along with Roland "Lucky" Teal, his stepson Dominic Wright, and Ricardo Mireles, all swap meet employees. Teal eventually grabbed the fleeing robber, and Jimenez, Wright, and Mireles arrived to help detain him.

The gunman, whom Jimenez later identified as defendant, reappeared and shouted: "Let my friend[] go or I'm going to start shooting." People scattered, but Teal simply released the robber, put his hands up, and froze, looking at the gunman. Defendant fired several shots in succession, as if from a machine gun, striking Teal in the chest and arm. Teal later died in the hospital of his wounds.

As the robbers prepared to make their getaway in the white car, Pipkin arrived in his car. Defendant, who was standing in the street near the white car, pointed a gun at Pipkin's car. Pipkin heard a "ping" sound and retreated. Police found a bullet hole in Pipkin's windshield and a corresponding bullet hole in the car seat, at chest level, two inches from where Pipkin had been sitting. A second bullet struck the roof of Pipkin's car. Pipkin provided police with what he believed was the license plate number of the white Camaro: 1 BSX 567.

Christine Zorns (hereafter sometimes Christine) owned a white Pontiac Firebird, license number 2 BSX 544. Her boyfriend at the time was Richard Zorns.¹ Richard Zorns often drove the car. On the day of the crime, Christine returned to their home in the early afternoon to find both Zorns and her car were gone. She received a telephone call from Zorns later that day, asking her to join him at his mother's house. Several people were present when she arrived, including Zorns, Ayala, and defendant. They were watching television, drinking, and laughing. They appeared to be discussing the details of the crime. For example, Christine overheard someone say that Ayala had been caught and that someone else had said to release him or he would "bump" him, meaning shoot him. Christine noticed defendant had a briefcase with a lot of money in it; Zorns and Ayala also had bags filled with money. Zorns's bag had $4,000.

Jude Barrios was defendant's girlfriend and the mother of his two children. They lived with his mother. Barrios testified that defendant often spoke to her of robbing the San Fernando swap meet. He also had discussed it with Zorns and Ayala. In the late afternoon on the day of the crime, she called defendant at Zorns's mother's house. Defendant sounded "ecstatic," "on cloud nine." She drove to the house and picked him up; he told her he had robbed the swap meet. The next day, they went to the courthouse together to await the jury verdict in the Sun Valley swap meet robbery case. While there, he again confessed to her that he had robbed the San Fernando swap meet and, reading a press account of Teal's killing, told Barrios the newspaper article had incorrect details. Later, he told her a "huge" Black security guard held Ayala and that he had shot the guard "because he was the only one who could identify him." That evening, Richard Zorns and Sergio Ayala came over to visit defendant; Barrios overheard them laughing and joking about the crime.

Police arrested defendant the next day. He called Barrios from jail and told her where he had hidden his share of the money stolen from Pipkin. She found a briefcase with more than $3,000 and, as instructed, gave some money to defendant's mother and spent the rest. She admitted she had lied for defendant in his earlier robbery trial. She also admitted the prosecution had granted her immunity in the present case and that defendant had told her if she testified against him he would not hurt her, but would hurt someone in her family.

Defendant was convicted in the earlier Sun Valley robbery case. Zorns and Ayala were tried separately and convicted of robbery and murder for their roles in the crimes at the San Fernando swap meet. The defense in the instant case rested without calling any witnesses.

B. Pretrial Issues

1. Denial of a Continuance

Defendant first contends the trial court's denial of his request for a continuance, made approximately two weeks before the scheduled start of the trial, violated his federal and state constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel, to a fair trial, to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against him, to due process of law, and to a reliable capital sentencing determination. (U.S. Const., 6th, 8th & 14th Amends.; Cal. Const., art. I, §§ 7, 15, 16, 17.) As we explain, although the denial of a continuance can, under some circumstances, deprive a criminal defendant of these important constitutional rights, the circumstances in this case fail to rise to that level. The trial court, therefore, did not abuse its broad discretion by denying the continuance.

a. Facts

Trial Attorney Richard Gomez-Hernandez² was appointed to represent defendant on April 11, 1991, and appeared in court for defendant's arraignment on that day. The proceedings were put over several times, often at the request of counsel. On November 8, 1991, counsel stated he would "probably" be ready to proceed in 45 days. When, on January 9, 1992, scheduling problems developed due to the court's previous decision to try defendant jointly with Zorns and Ayala, the court granted Zorns and Ayala's motion to sever their cases from defendant's case.

On March 6, 1992, defense counsel explained that he was engaged representing a defendant in a different capital trial, People v. Carrion, that would take at least 45 days, excluding a possible penalty phase trial. He asked the trial court not to schedule defendant's case to begin until "at least a month" after the end of the Carrion case. The trial court agreed. Back in court on April 24, 1992, counsel explained that he was engaged in plea negotiations with the prosecutor in defendant's case and hoped to reach a mutually agreeable plea agreement as a result of those negotiations. Both sides agreed to a continuance to May 22. At a status conference on May 21, 1992, the trial court announced that, barring a plea, it expected the matter to go to trial and asked the parties whether July 28 was a viable trial date. When both sides agreed, the trial court set the matter as a "must go" for July 28, 1992.

The parties were...