People v. Rosenkrantz

Citation198 Cal.App.3d 1187,244 Cal.Rptr. 403
Decision Date25 February 1988
Docket NumberNo. B022085,B022085
PartiesThe PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Robert Moshe ROSENKRANTZ, Defendant and Appellant.
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeals
Dennis A. Fischer, Santa Monica, for defendant and appellant

John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., Steve White, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Mark E. Turchin, Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen., and David F. Glassman, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

INTRODUCTION

L. THAXTON HANSON, Associate Justice.

By information, defendant was charged with murder, in violation of Penal Code section 187. It was also alleged that in the commission of the offense, defendant personally used a firearm, a semi-automatic carbine, within the meaning of Penal Code sections 12022.5 and 1203.06, subdivision (a)(1). Defendant entered a plea of not guilty and denied the use allegation.

Trial was by jury. The jury found defendant guilty of second degree murder. The special allegation concerning firearm use was found to be true. Defendant's motion for new trial was denied, as was his motion to reduce the conviction to manslaughter. Defendant was sentenced to state prison for the term prescribed by law, 15 years to life. The trial court also ordered that defendant be sentenced to two additional years because of the special allegation. Defendant has appealed from the judgment of conviction.

FACTUAL STATEMENT

We summarize the evidence adduced below, mindful of the familiar standard of In June of 1985, defendant Robert Rosenkrantz was 18 years of age and graduating from high school. He lived with his parents and two brothers, Joey and Joshua, in Calabasas. Joey was approximately 16 years old; sometimes he and defendant did not get along well. The two boys shared a telephone at the family home. About two weeks before defendant's graduation, Joey began eavesdropping on the telephone line, using a device provided by his 17-year-old friend, Steven Redman. The device recorded telephone conversations and Joey listened to the recordings. After hearing some of defendant's conversations with another young male, Joey suspected defendant was a homosexual. He heard defendant plan to meet this person and go to a beach house in Hermosa Beach which belonged to the Rosenkrantz family on the night of June 21, the night defendant was graduating from high school.

review applicable when a defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a judgment of conviction. As was stated in People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 578, 162 Cal.Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738, "the court must review the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment below to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence--that is, evidence which is reasonable, credible, and of solid value--such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."

Joey discussed this development with his friend, Steven, who suggested that he and Joey should also go to the beach house that evening, to gather information about defendant's homosexuality. On June 21, Joey and Steven arrived at the beach house and looked in a window. There they saw three young men and a female; one of the young men was defendant. The group inside were drinking and watching television. After an hour or so, defendant and one of the young men went into a bedroom. Joey and Steven, who had a camera, could not hear or see what was happening. Joey wanted to leave, but Steven persuaded him to stay while Steven ran into the house and took pictures with the camera. Before making this entry, Joey and Steven went to their car. Steven got a flashlight and Joey a stun gun, kept in the car for protection. Then they went to the front door, which Joey unlocked.

Steven kicked in the door, yelling "Get the fuck out of here you faggots." Defendant came out of the bedroom into the hallway. His companion, Michael, also came out. Joey, carrying the stun gun, told defendant that he wanted defendant to know he knew about defendant's homosexuality, and told defendant he expected defendant to leave him alone in the future. Defendant said to Joey, "You're not getting out of here." Defendant advanced upon Joey, and they struggled for control of the stun gun. Joey burned defendant's hands with the gun. Defendant and Joey entered one of the bedrooms as they continued to struggle. Meanwhile Steven was using the flashlight to keep Michael away from him, but Michael started punching Steven.

During this melee, defendant got control of the stun gun, but got hit by Steven's flashlight several times; defendant's nose was broken. Defendant used the stun gun on Joey, and burned Joey on the face. Defendant's friends at the beach house intervened and the fighting stopped, but defendant sent one of his guests, Rubin, to his car to obtain defendant's BB pistol. Defendant and Rubin kept Joey from leaving the house. Joey referred to certain "tapes" he had made of telephone calls which would confirm defendant's homosexuality, and declared that these tapes would be heard by others if anything happened to him. Joey convinced defendant the tapes were in his car.

Defendant and Rubin, one armed with the stun gun and the other with the BB pistol, finally accompanied Joey to his car; Michael stayed with Steven. Joey professed not to remember where his car was, and managed to escape from defendant and Rubin into a store. The storekeeper called the police, after Joey told him defendant and Rubin were trying to rob him.

When the police arrived, Joey told the police that Steven was being held hostage The next day defendant and Joey decided that Joey would tell their father the whole thing had been a joke; that defendant was not gay and that Steven and Joey had lied about defendant's sexual activities. Defendant had already had a conversation with his father that morning, during which he had insisted that he was heterosexual; his father had broken down and cried, because the thought that defendant might be homosexual was very upsetting. Joey recanted his story about defendant's homosexual conduct. The boys' father summoned Steve Redman, who modified his story about what he had actually observed the previous evening. Gradually, however, the boys' father received an accurate picture of what had transpired, and realized that defendant was a homosexual. Defendant's father at first decided not to confront defendant about this, but his decision was shortlived. He did confront defendant, and questioned him very angrily about his activities and his contacts. Defendant retreated to his room, and took his belongings and left the house on Saturday, June 22. Defendant slept in his car.

at the beach house. The police escorted Joey back to the beach house but defendant and Rubin had left. The police regarded the incident as a brotherly fight, and said they were not going to make a report. After the police left, Joey called his father, because someone had taken his car keys. The boys' father drove to the beach house and spoke to defendant who had returned; defendant gave his father Joey's keys, and Joey and Steven drove home. Before they left, however, Steven told Joey's father that they had [198 Cal.App.3d 1193] seen defendant and another person with his pants down. Joey did not dispute Steven's story.

On Monday, June 24, defendant went to the Agoura Indoor Shooting Range in the early afternoon. Frank Georgianna, a friend of the owners of the range, was helping out behind the counter. Defendant asked to use the Uzi semi-automatic nine millimeter carbine. After looking at defendant's driver's license and having defendant fill out a form, Georgianna rented a Uzi with ammunition and targets to defendant. According to Georgianna, when he asked defendant if he knew how to operate the Uzi, defendant said that he did.

Defendant shot the weapon on the firing range for ten or fifteen minutes; he used half a box of ammunition. He then returned to the counter and said he wanted to buy a Uzi. Georgianna said it would have to be ordered but defendant said no, he wanted it now, he did not want to wait. Georgianna referred defendant to the manager, Moran. Moran told defendant it would take a week or more to get a Uzi for him, at a cost of $550. Defendant tried to buy the Uzi he had rented, but was refused; he seemed very tense, and left.

On the same day, defendant visited the Turner Sporting Goods store in Reseda. He asked Turner employee McNeill about buying a Uzi. Not having one in stock, McNeill located one at Turner's Culver City store. He told defendant it would be available in a day or two; they agreed defendant would return for the Uzi on Wednesday, June 26.

Defendant testified he worked at Scaliche's, a restaurant, on June 24 and 25. On Tuesday, June 25, defendant had a conversation with Richard Phillips, a cook at the restaurant, a place where Steven Redman had also worked. Defendant told Phillips he had a fight at home, had moved out of his house, and was planning to kill his brother. He showed Phillips a truck he had just purchased, in which he planned to live. He told Phillips he had bought a gun. Defendant seemed calm to Phillips, who discounted defendant's stated intention to kill his brother; he concluded only that defendant had been in a family fight, and counseled him that he would get over being upset about it.

Defendant also had a conversation with Kurt Gardner about the same time at Scaliche's. Gardner, aged 18, had worked at Scaliche's with defendant and Redman. Defendant told Gardner he had left home after a fight; he indicated that he had been humiliated by his brother and Steven Redman. He told Gardner he was getting a gun. Gardner, like Phillips, concluded it was a family dispute which would blow over; he suggested that defendant return home. He observed that defendant was On Wednesday, June 26, defendant picked up the Uzi at Turner's. The assistant...

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  • People v. Stoll
    • United States
    • California Supreme Court
    • December 18, 1989
    ..."severe personality disorder," i.e., he is a "homosexual pedophile" who murdered during a "fit" or "rage"]; People v. Rosenkrantz (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 1187, 1198, 244 Cal.Rptr. 403 [noncapital murder trial: defendant's reasoning process obscured by severe "adjustment disorder with mixed em......
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    ...prison for a term of 15 years to life, plus 2 years for his use of a gun. We affirmed the judgment. {People v. Rosenkrantz (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 1187, 244 Cal.Rptr. 403 [Rosenkrantz I]); see also In re Rosenkrantz (2000) 80 Cal. App.4th 409, 95 Cal.Rptr.2d 279 [Rosenkrantz II]; Davis v. Sup......
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    ...the circumstances leading to the killing--to support a conviction of second degree murder. (See, e.g., People v. Rosenkrantz (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 1187, 244 Cal.Rptr. 403 [defendant, incensed that his younger brother and an acquaintance had discovered defendant's homosexuality, purchased a ......
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