People v. Salinas
| Decision Date | 19 May 1982 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 4624 |
| Citation | 131 Cal.App.3d 925,182 Cal.Rptr. 683 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Rosa SALINAS, Defendant and Appellant. |
Appellant, Rosa Salinas, appeals from a judgment of conviction of second degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187) and of inflicting cruel and corporal punishment on a child (Pen.Code, § 273d). The court sentenced her to the middle term of six years on the murder conviction and imposed a concurrent term on the conviction of corporal punishment upon a child.
In September 1978, Emma Rios was living at 6421 Huntsman in Selma with her husband and two children. Appellant, Rosa Navarro, also known as Rosa Salinas, was also living at that address. Rosa was living there with her husband, Raudell Salinas and her three children, including Micaela Salinas (Micki), the victim.
In mid-August, Emma first saw Rosa strike Micki; she was hitting her with a belt on the back and wherever she could hit her. Emma saw bruises on Micki's face and her lips were swollen. Thereafter, Emma called the sheriff.
During August and September, Rosa hit Micki about eight times, although several times she did not hit her very hard. She also saw Rosa pull Micki's hair on two occasions. Although she was able to get around the house, Micki would not walk around much. She spent most of the time sitting in the living room. When they would get up to eat, Rosa would tell Micki to sit down and the child would stay put.
On August 21 and September 6, Rosa hit Micki with the belt. After the incident on September 6, Emma saw bruises on Micki's back.
The next incident of beating Emma testified to occurred on September 7. On that date, Emma saw Rosa and Micki in the bathroom. About a half hour prior to this, Rosa heard Micki intermittently cry and Rosa would tell Micki to shut up. Emma heard Rosa yelling like she was really mad and she also heard what she thought was Micki being spanked with a belt. After this half hour, Emma went to get her baby some food and she passed by the bathroom. She saw Rosa and Micki in there and Rosa had a belt in her hand.
Emma then went back to her room where her husband and baby were. Emma was familiar with the sounds of a belt and she heard Rosa strike Micki with the belt. Rosa heard the sounds go on for about one to one and a half hours.
When Emma returned to the bedroom, her husband had a tape recorder and he began taping Rosa's shouting, Micki's crying and the sounds of the belt and sounds that were made by hitting the shower. An edited version of the tape was played to the jury.
The next day, September 8, Emma and Rosalio Estrada (Emma's husband) saw Micki in the bathroom with Rosa. Rosalio noticed that Micki was moving around, was crying and Rosa had a belt in her hand.
After making the tape recording (which was subsequently given to Detective Shirley Fernandez), the Rioses left the house and did not return until that evening and did not see anyone at home at the time.
At about noon on September 8, Rosa called Sally Salinas, Rosa's sister-in-law, to come over to her house. When Rosa called, she said Micki had been having fainting spells for about five days. Sally went over and saw Micki lying on the bed unconscious. Apparently, Rosa was trying to revive the child with alcohol. Rosa told Sally that at about 11 o'clock Micki fell out of her chair when she was eating. Sally noticed some bruises on the child's head. Rosa also suggested going to a clinic.
Sally left but Rosa called her back at about 3 p. m. Rosa wanted Sally to go interpret for her because a sheriff was there. She told Sally to tell the sheriff that Micki had fallen off the front stairs. Sally told the sheriff this. When the officer stepped outside, Rosa said, "they are going to think I did it."
Fresno Deputy Sheriff Kerns testified that at about 2:45 p. m. he went to the house to investigate possible child abuse. He encountered appellant who eventually asked Sally Salinas to come over and translate. Officer Kerns explained why he was there and the women took him to a bedroom where he saw a motionless three- or four-year-old child covered with a bed sheet. He initially thought the child, Micki, was a boy instead of a girl because of the closely cropped hair. He noticed bruises on her head and a few open cuts and bruises on her arms. The child was having difficulty breathing and he checked her pulse which was weak. The child's eyes were dilated and she did not respond to his voice or touch. Kerns immediately radioed for an ambulance.
Rosa and Sally were with Kerns and he asked what happened to the child. Rosa told him that while the child was eating lunch she had a seizure and fell and received some bruises and injuries. The officer pulled Micki's shirt up and saw other bruises on the abdomen area.
The ambulance arrived and the child was taken to Valley Medical Center. Rosa accompanied Officer Kerns to the hospital.
At the hospital, the officer told one of the doctors that he had been told that the child had a seizure and sustained injuries. Officer Kerns was present when appellant was arrested.
During the entire time Kerns was at the residence, Rosa appeared calm and she did not appear to be upset at all. However, after she was placed under arrest she began crying.
In the afternoon on September 8, Wallace Carroll, M.D., was in the emergency room when he saw the victim who was bruised, unconscious and was posturing, indicating that she had some sort of brain damage at the time. Although the victim had bruises all over her body, the darkest bruises were on her face and buttocks. Carroll noted most of the bruises were red in color and were thus about 48 hours old or less. The bruises on the head were primarily on one side. The victim was unresponsive to any stimuli and the nature of her symptoms indicated brain damage. The initial diagnosis revealed a large amount of swelling of the brain, particularly on the left side. He diagnosed Micki as having a subdural hematoma.
Shortly after doing a brief examination, Carroll spoke with Rosa to obtain a medical history. He asked her what happened and she indicated that the child had been ill for five days, had been fainting and had "attacks." Also, Micki had fallen down a couple of stairs during one of the attacks, and that on the day she was admitted Micki had fallen from a table and chair and did not wake up.
The doctor felt that the history given by Rosa was not consistent with the injuries; he suspected child abuse. Given the amount of brain damage, it was unlikely that the victim would have been up and about, eating and sleeping. It would not have been possible to lead a normal life. While the subdural hematoma could have occurred before September 7 and 8, he felt the injuries were of more recent origin. 1
Vigorous shaking or blows may cause a subdural hematoma. Carroll further testified that it was difficult to state whether the bruises on the victim's cheeks caused the subdural hematoma.
A pathologist performed an autopsy on Micki on September 20. He opined that the cause of death was a subdural and cortical hemorrhage or hematoma. Any one of the bruises could have caused a subdural hematoma. Also, it was more likely that the force applied resulting in the subdural hematoma occurred on September 8, rather than on September 7. However, the trauma on the 7th could be such that it would have taken little force on the 8th to cause the subdural hematoma. Bruises on the skull and a blow could have caused the hematoma.
Raudell Salinas, Rosa's husband, testified that he cut Micki's hair at Rosa's behest because it was falling out and he felt this would help her hair to grow back healthy. This was a custom and "home remedy" in Mexico. He never saw his wife mistreat the child or pull at her hair.
Rosa Salinas, aged 25, testified in her own behalf. Before July 1978, Micki had been living with the Mendoza family and Rosa saw Micki every month. Rosa asked the welfare authorities to get the child back, and when Micki eventually came to live with her she was happy. On occasion, Micki mentioned the Mendozas and, while appellant did not hold anything against them, she felt badly. 2
Emma Rios was part of the other family that lived in the same household with Rosa. When Micki would not obey her and go off with Emma, this made Rosa feel worse.
The first time she actually spanked Micki was around August 28 or 29. She spanked her because she felt badly about everything and because Micki went to the bathroom in her pants. Rosa felt like she was choking, her body shook and she could not stand up. She hit her with a sandal on the buttocks and legs and felt anger, although not with Micki. She could not stop hitting her. She also recalled that she grabbed Micki, threw her on the bed and, in the process, Micki grabbed the edge of the heater or the bed and hit herself on the mouth. Prior to this time, she had not hit Micki with the belt but would just scold her.
Micki had hair falling out of her scalp and appellant did not know the cause. She did not ever pull at her hair, but she would like to touch it.
On September 7, she became angry at Micki because Micki was with Emma. Emma had gone somewhere and Micki went with her. Emma also called Rosa a bitch. They returned and Micki then pushed her younger stepsister which angered Rosa. Rosa felt herself choking and her body was shaking. Running through her mind were memories of when the authorities took Micki...
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