People v. Smith

• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Citation: People v. Smith, 248 Cal.App.4th 794 (Cal. App. 2016)
• Decision Date: 29 June 2016
• Docket Number: D069445.
• Parties: THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. KIESHA RENEE SMITH et al., Defendants and Appellants.

248 Cal.App.4th 794

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.KIESHA RENEE SMITH et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. D069445.

Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division One.

June 29, 2016.

Gordon S. Brownell , under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Kiesha Renee Smith.

David M. McKinney , under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Michael Mitchell.

Kamala D. Harris , Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler , Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland , Assistant Attorney General, Barry J. Carlton and Christopher P. Beesley , Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

AARON, J. —

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendants Kiesha Renee Smith and Michael Mitchell appeal from their judgments of conviction for the murder of Josephine Kelley. We are compelled to reverse both defendants' convictions due to prejudicial error in the joint trial before separate juries.¹

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual background

1. General background

Josephine Kelley was 90 years old in 2005. She lived with her daughter Susan Hassett, son-in-law Dennis Hassett, and grandson Derrick Hassett.²

Derrick was unemployed and lived with his parents. Derrick sold drugs and often accepted electronic gadgets as payment in exchange for drugs. Sherry Beck used drugs, including marijuana and methamphetamine, and was a customer of Derrick's. She would sometimes pay him money for the drugs, but other times would trade items, such as "cell phones, DVD players, different things," for drugs. Beck occasionally used methamphetamine with Derrick.³

Beck spent time with other people who used drugs and stole things, as well. Beck would sometimes pawn stolen items at pawn shops for other people. Beck had been convicted of burglarizing her mother's home.

Beck knew Smith because they lived in the same apartment complex, which was not far from the Hassett home.⁴ Beck sometimes gave Smith rides in Beck's car. One day in September 2005, Beck drove Mitchell and Smith to a pawn shop.

As Beck, Smith and Mitchell drove by Derrick's house, Beck pointed out the Hassett residence to Mitchell and Smith and told them that they could probably acquire a lot of items from the home because Derrick was frequently getting items of value, such as electronics, in exchange for drugs. Beck specifically identified Derrick's house because she was upset with him and wanted to get even with him. Beck had begun to feel that Derrick had been taking advantage of her by giving her less product than what she believed she was entitled to receive in exchange for the merchandise she was giving Derrick.

According to Beck's trial testimony, Mitchell and Smith developed a plan in which they would have Beck get Derrick to leave the house so that they could burglarize it.

2. The day of the murder

On September 15, 2005, Beck drove to Derrick's house and tried to trade a CD player or power tools for drugs.⁵ Derrick was in the garage of the home, and he and Beck met there. Derrick did not have any drugs to give Beck. Beck thought Derrick was acting strangely; he seemed as if he were high on drugs. Derrick later admitted that he might have ingested drugs that morning.

During their visit in Derrick's garage, Beck learned that Derrick's grandmother was at home. Beck attempted to get Derrick to leave to get some drugs, but Derrick declined to leave the house because he did not feel that Beck had anything to trade that was sufficiently valuable for him to take the time to go get more drugs.

While Beck was talking to Derrick, Smith approached the house on foot and pretended to be looking for a lost kitten.⁶ According to Derrick, Beck and Smith "started arguing" about "their cat or something." Beck tried to motion to Smith for "her [to] go away." Smith eventually left. According to Beck, she did not stay "long" after Smith left. At some point, Derrick's friend Christopher Mahan showed up to "smoke ... some dope" with Derrick.

According to Mahan, Derrick and Mahan "smoke[d] ... some dope" at the Hassett home.⁷ Derrick then "got all paranoid" and decided that they needed to leave the house. Derrick and Mahan went inside to close and check or lock all of the windows and doors. Derrick said, "`Bye grandma, love you.'" Mahan heard no response. The two then left to go to a store to get beer. After they got some beer, Mahan dropped Derrick off at a friend's house up the street from where Derrick lived, and Mahan "went straight back to work."

In the meantime, after leaving the Hassett home in her own car, Beck saw Smith, Mitchell, and another man in a car that pulled up next to hers.⁸ Both drivers pulled over, and Beck told the occupants of the other car that she did not want to have anything to do with burglarizing the Hassett home. Beck testified, "I showed 'em the house, and to me that was all I wanted to be involved with." Beck claimed that she told Smith, Mitchell and the other man that she did not want any of the money or property that they might get from the Hassett house, and that her only goal was to `get[] even with Eric — I mean Derrick.'" According to Beck, she told Smith and Mitchell that Derrick's grandmother was at home, and that she did not want them to burglarize the house. Smith and Mitchell did not say anything in response. Beck then returned to the apartment complex, although she was not living there at that time.⁹

Susan Hassett returned home from work that afternoon sometime after 3:30 p.m. Upon entering her home, she saw "[her] mother's purse open, laying on the floor, and everything spread out around it from the contents of her purse." Susan began to call out for her mother. Susan immediately went to her mother's bedroom and found Kelley on her bed. There was a pillowcase over Kelley's head. Susan took the pillowcase off of her mother's head and tried to wake her up. Susan called 911.

It was later determined that Kelley had died from homicidal asphyxia. Her legs and arms had been bound with wires used "for hooking up televisions, monitors or computer monitors." The medical examiner testified that he "felt that the primary method or mode of asphyxiation here was smothering," but that "[t]he position she was in [i.e., the way `she was lying'] might have contributed to her death."

Later that day, Mahan returned to the place where he had dropped Derrick off, and picked him up. Mahan told Derrick that there were police at Derrick's house. Mahan took Derrick to the police station, where he spent a number of hours.¹⁰ Derrick was arrested for Kelley's murder that day. The investigation centered on Derrick in 2005, but the district attorney's office ultimately declined to prosecute Derrick for the crime.

3. Additional evidence

Beck learned from the television news the following morning that Kelley had died. She saw Derrick "in a[n] orange jumpsuit."

According to Beck, on the day after the burglary of the Hassett home, Smith, Mitchell and the other man who had been in the car with them the previous day approached Beck in front of the hotel where she was staying. They told Beck that she "needed to keep [her] mouth shut." They were in an SUV, and one of them had a weapon.¹¹ Beck said that someone pointed the weapon at her.

Beck was interviewed by police a number of times, beginning shortly after Kelley's death. During her first interview, Beck told officers that she thought Smith might have been involved in Kelley's murder. Beck was given a photographic lineup, but was unable to positively identify Mitchell.

About three weeks to a month after Kelley's death, police went to the home of Mitchell's mother, Theresa Johns, looking for Smith.¹² Officers found Smith hiding in a closet. While at the residence, police found a significant number of items that had been taken from the Hassett residence. It also became clear that Smith and Mitchell had pawned, within days of the burglary, other items of value that had been stolen from the Hassett residence. Many of the stolen items found in Johns's residence were identifiable as having been taken during the burglary of the Hassett residence, including jewelry and watches, some of which had personalized engravings. Police also found foreign currency and many coins, including coin collections.

Police searched a Chevrolet Blazer that was parked at Johns's house. Inside the Blazer, a detective found a small safe and a pink tackle box, which officers suspected were also connected to the burglary of the Hassett residence. Inside the safe an officer found collectible coin books containing collections of coins and currency from different countries, and inside the tackle box officers found jewelry and money.

During an interview with police in early 2006, Derrick was presented with photographic lineups. In the lineup in which police placed Smith's photograph, Derrick was unable to positively identify Smith as the woman who had stopped by his home while he was talking with Beck.

An employee of the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department Crime Lab OC. analyzed Kelley's clothing, a pillowcase, a towel, and some cords found at the crime scene. The employee obtained DNA matches for Kelley and Derrick on the towel, which had been wrapped around Kelley's head.¹³ No DNA from either Smith or Mitchell was found on the towel.

A latent fingerprint examiner for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Crime Laboratory testified that latent fingerprints were obtained from various locations inside the Hassett residence. None of the prints was a positive match to Smith. Some were inconclusive as to Mitchell.

The parties stipulated that numerous shoe impressions were present in the soil in the side yard to the residence and on the carpet in the living room. Three shoe impressions were compared with a pair of shoes seized from Johns's house in Rialto. Two of the impressions, from the dirt, did not match the comparison shoes. The carpet indentation had "the same outline as the two shoes...