People v. Stanworth

• Citation: 80 Cal.Rptr. 49,71 Cal.2d 820,457 P.2d 889
• Decision Date: 20 August 1969
• Docket Number: Cr. 10756
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 457 P.2d 889 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dennis STANWORTH, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 49

80 Cal.Rptr. 49

71 Cal.2d 820, 457 P.2d 889

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dennis STANWORTH, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 10756.

Supreme Court of California In Bank.

Aug. 20, 1969.

J. Vance Porlier, under appointment by the Supreme Court, San Pablo, for defendant and appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Albert W. Harris, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Derald E. Granberg and Edward P. O'Brien, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

SULLIVAN, Justice.

Defendant, Dennis Stanworth, was charged by indictment with, and convicted upon pleas of guilty to, two counts of murder (Pen.Code, § 187), ¹ one count of kidnaping to commit robbery with bodily harm (§ 209), four counts of kidnaping (§ 207), three counts of forcible rape (§ 261, subd. 3), one count of sexual perversion (§ 288a), and one count of robbery (§ 211). ² Pursuant to stipulation the trial court made findings as to the degrees of the murders upon its examination of the transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury and determined both murders to be of the first degree. The issue of penalty for each of the murder counts and for the count of kidnaping to commit robbery with bodily harm was tried to a jury which fixed the penalty on each of the murder counts at death and on the kidnaping count at life imprisonment without possibility of parole. ³ This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We set forth the pertinent facts as disclosed by the transcript of the proceedings had at the trial on the issues of penalty. On August 12, 1965, at 5:30 p.m., Miss W, ⁴ 20 years of age, a student nurse and an employee at a Montgomery Ward store in Richmond, was driving out of the store's parking lot. While she was stopped at a stop sign, defendant approached and asked for a ride down the street to his car, which he said was stalled. She twice refused his request, but he reached through the open window on the passenger side, unlocked the door and entered. He exhibited a knife and threatened to use it on Miss W if she refused to take him where he wanted to go. She drove him to a parking lot of Golden Gate Fields, in Berkeley.

After Miss W stopped her car, defendant produced an insulated or covered wire and bound her hands behind her back. He then removed part of her clothing and raped her. During the act of sexual intercourse defendant told Miss W that he would have to kill her, put his hands around her throat and chocked her until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, defendant untied her hands upon her promise not to attempt to escape, permitted her to dress and drove her back to the Montgomery Ward store. During the return trip he stated that he was married and had four children; ⁵ that he was glad he had not killed her; that he was sorry for what had happened and that he would not do it again. Defendant was convicted on counts of kidnaping and raping Miss W.

On November 4, 1965, about 8:30 p.m., Mrs. D, 24 years of age, was walking home along a dark road from a nearby shopping center in El Sobrante. As she passed a field, defendant seized her, held an ice pick to her throat and demanded that she submit to sexual intercourse with him. He then pulled and dragged her into the field, bound her hands with an insulated wire, tore off her clothing and forcibly raped her. Afterwards he took $15 from Mrs. D's purse and threatened to kill her. She begged for her life and told him that she had four children, whereupon he fled across the field with the money. As to the foregoing incident, defendant was convicted on counts of kidnaping to commit robbery with bodily harm, rape and robbery.

On May 13, 1966, about 9 p.m., Miss S, 17 years of age and a high school student, stopped her car at a stop sign as she drove from a school parking lot in Richmond. Defendant opened the door on the passenger side of her car and entered, exhibiting a knife. Holding the knife against her stomach, he told her she would not 'get hurt' if she did what he wanted. He directed her to drive onto a side street, bound her hands behind her back with insulated wire and forced her onto the floorboards in the front seat of her automobile. He then drove to Point Richmond on San Francisco Bay, and forced her onto the beach area. He removed her clothing, after freeing her hands upon her promise that she would not 'try anything.' He fondled her for a short while, and then removed his penis from his trousers and indicated that she was to orally copulate him. He forced his penis into her mouth, and when she drew back, choking, he slapped her about the face and inserted his penis back into her mouth. Defendant refused to return her clothing and started back to the car. She followed him and eventually he drove her back to the high school. During the return trop he returned her clothing, and threatened her with serious consequences if she called the authorities. Defendant was convicted of kidnaping and sexual perversion based on the foregoing incident.

On the morning of August 1, 1966, Susan Muriel Box and Caree Lee Collison, aged 15 and 14 years respectively, were hitchhiking along a highway in Pinole. ⁶ Defendant first drove past them, but returned and offered them a ride. With the intention of raping them, he drove the girls to Point Wilson, overlooking San Pablo Bay. He was armed with a .22 caliber pistol and forced the girls at gun point to walk across a field to a large bush, where he had them disrobe. Miss Collison attempted to escape and defendant forced her to come back by threatening the life of Miss Box. When Miss Collison returned, defendant shot her in the head probably twice. He then shot Miss Box in the head, and performed an act of sexual intercourse upon her body. He placed Miss Box's body on top of Miss Collison under the bush, and partially covered them with branches. As he was leaving the scene he heard one of the girls moan, and he fired again at them, the bullet passing through the thigh of the drawn-up right leg of Miss Box and into her abdomen.

The girls' bodies were discovered in the afternoon of August 3, 1966. Miss Box was dead. Miss Collison was alive but in a comatose state. She never recovered consciousness. She died on September 12, 1966.

The death of Miss Box occurred almost instantaneously from brain damage caused by the bullet in her head. In addition to wounds in her head, abdomen and right leg, she had a puncture wound in the left chest caused by a sharp-pointed, penetrating object, a burned or blistered area approximately one-half inch in diameter below one knee, and numerous scratch marks on her face, chest, left shoulder, hips, right thigh and right buttock. Seminal fluid was found in her vaginal canal. Defendant was convicted of counts of kidnaping, forcibly raping and murdering Miss Box.

Miss Collision died from severe bronchial pneumonia secondary to head wounds. In addition to who bullet wounds in her head, there was a third wound in her ear which may have been caused by a bullet or by some sharp, penetrating object. Other wounds consisted of lacerations on the fingers caused by a bullet, numerous scratches on her legs and thighs, numerous small superficial marks over her face and a large part of her body, a hand-sized burned area on the left thigh, marked swelling on the left side of the face and a constriction or burn mark around the left wrist. Defendant was convicted of counts of kidnaping and murdering Miss Collision.

On August 3, 1966, two days after the attacks on Miss Box and Miss Collison, Miss G, then 18 years of age, was leaving the parking lot of a shopping center at 8:15 p.m. in Pacifica in San Mateo County, when defendant opened the door on the passenger side of her automobile and stopped in. He told her to drive him to his car, which he claimed was disabled behind a store building. After she had driven there, defendant removed Miss G's keys from the ignition, displayed a knife, and demanded her money. She gave him her purse and he took the money in it, which was approximately four or six dollars. He then forced her onto the front floorboard on the passenger side, bound her hands and feet with wire and threatening her with a knife, drove to a point near the ocean. There, defendant pulled and dragged Miss G over a hill and down to the beach.

When she refused to kiss him he removed the wire from her feet and pulled at her blouse, causing her to scream and run. She tried to run away but he caught her and put a wire around her neck. She screamed again, he threatened to kill her unless she was quiet, and he strangled her with his hands. She quieted down and he tore off her clothing and raped her. After he had completed the act, he left her on the beach with her hands loosely bound. She freed and dressed herself, made her way to the highway and eventually notified the authorities. Defendant was apprehended in Miss G's car a few hours later. This incident which took place in San Mateo County is of course not among any of the offenses with which defendant was charged in the Contra Costa County proceedings now before us.

As previously stated (see fn. 2, Ante) two indictments were returned against defendant: the first (No. 10134) on August 18, 1966, charging 12 counts of felony; and the second (No. 10173) on September 20, 1966, after Miss Collison's death, charging the single count of her murder.

When defendant appeared for entry of his plea to the first indictment, the court suspended the proceedings under section 1368 (doubt as to present sanity) and appointed two psychiatrists, Dr. Rood and Dr. Perretti, to examine defendant as to his present sanity and report to the court. At the subsequent hearing on the question of present sanity, pursuant to stipulation of the parties, the matter was submitted on the reports of the above two psychiatrists. The court found that the defendant 'is presently sane and understands the nature of the proceedings' and ordered that the criminal proceedings be...