People v. Stringham

• Decision Date: 29 November 1988
• Docket Number: No. A039020,A039020
• Citation: 253 Cal.Rptr. 484,206 Cal.App.3d 184
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 57 USLW 2391 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Guy Thomas STRINGHAM, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 484

253 Cal.Rptr. 484

206 Cal.App.3d 184, 57 USLW 2391

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Guy Thomas STRINGHAM, Defendant and Appellant.

No. A039020.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 4, California.

Nov. 29, 1988.

Certified for Partial Publication ^*.

Review Denied Feb. 23, 1989.

Corinne S. Shulman, Shulman, Shulman & Siegel, Hydesville, for defendant and appellant.

John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., Steve White, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., John H. Sugiyama, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Martin S. Kaye, Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen., Laurence K. Sullivan, Deputy Atty. Gen., San Francisco, for plaintiff and respondent.

POCHE, Acting Presiding Justice.

Defendant Guy Thomas Stringham appeals from a judgment of conviction entered after a jury returned verdicts finding him guilty of second degree murder, kidnapping, and felony false imprisonment (Pen.Code, §§ 187, 207, 236). ¹ The primary question presented is this: Can a plea bargain which has been accepted by one judge be rejected by another judge following the commencement of sentencing proceedings at which a murder victim's next of kin appears and denounces the negotiated disposition? Our answer is Yes.

PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE

The centerpiece of the amended information filed against defendant was the charge that he had murdered Paul Snipes. This count included special circumstance allegations that the murder had occurred while defendant was engaged in kidnapping Snipes, and that the murder involved the infliction of torture ( § 190.2, subds. (a)(17)(ii), (a)(18)). The murder count also included allegations that defendant had been armed with a firearm ( § 12022, subd. (a)), and that he had furnished a firearm "to another for the purpose of aiding, abetting and enabling that person to commit a felony" within the meaning of section 12022.4.

Defendant was further charged with additional crimes against Snipes, specifically; two counts of assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury ( § 245, subd. (a)(1)); kidnapping; false imprisonment effected by violence, menace, fraud, and deceit; and separate counts of conspiring to kidnap Snipes and to falsely imprison him ( § 182). All of the offenses alleged in the information occurred on or about August 21, 1986.

On December 12, 1986, the prosecutor informed Judge Petersen that "we have reached a resolution in this case." The terms of the agreement were that the prosecutor would amend the murder charge to voluntary manslaughter. Defendant would enter pleas of guilty to voluntary manslaughter and kidnapping. In addition, defendant would admit the allegation that he had furnished a firearm to another. The remaining charges and enhancement allegations would be dismissed. In conformity with section 1192.7, and in response to a question from Judge Petersen, the prosecutor stated that the basis for concurrence to the plea was his uncertainty whether he could produce the testimony of a pair of material witnesses. ² Judge Petersen advised defendant that "acceptance [of the proposed disposition], of course, is conditional and if, after I read the probation report, ... I desire to not accept the plea, it will be so stated and you will be allowed to ... withdraw your guilty plea and the matter will then go to trial on all the charges now pending against you.... [p] ... [U]pon the Court's acceptance, if I do accept this negotiated plea, the other charges will be dismissed against you." After being admonished of the rights he would be surrendering, defendant entered guilty pleas in accordance with the terms of the negotiated disposition. January 23, 1987, was the date set for receipt of a probation report ³ and for sentencing.

On December 18, 1986, Judge Petersen told the parties that he was recusing himself and requesting that "the Judicial Council ... assign an outside Judge to handle all future proceedings in this case." ⁴ Judge Petersen was thereafter replaced by Judge Buffington from Humboldt County. The following events occurred in 1987:

When proceedings were resumed before Judge Buffington on January 23rd, he stated that he had received and read the probation report. He then inquired "Is there any legal cause why sentence should not be pronounced?" After responding "No legal cause," defendant's counsel addressed himself to an appropriate sentence in light of the probation report. During the course of his presentation counsel's remarks apparently became too factually specific for the court, which interrupted: "I've read the probation report. I've read the mitigation [statement], but what I need to do is read [more about] this [case]. You're going to be splitting hairs over whether or not one of the facts or another fact applies, and I can't make any judgment without really reading the preliminary examination. That's going to take some period of time.... [p] Tell me what you want me to consider and tell how long you think it's going to take. I think it's unfair to the People, I think it's unfair to the defendant, I think it's unfair to Mr. Snipes' family, and certainly unfair to me, to expect me to do a just sentencing on no knowledge of what's happened."

After determining that Snipes' parents were present, Judge Buffington inquired of them "I take it that you and your family are saying that I should not accept this plea?" Mr. Snipes answered affirmatively, and said that he had been told by a probation officer "I had the right to make a statement here." Replying that "You will have a right," Judge Buffington was asked by Mr. Snipes if "the decision is to be made today whether to accept this plea today or not. Is that correct so far?" Judge Buffington responded "Yes, sir, basically," and then permitted Mr. Snipes to read a statement in which Mr. Snipes passionately excoriated the plea bargain and the "remiss attitude on the part of the prosecution." Mr. Snipes concluded his statement with these remarks: "When you consider the lack of punishment already mentioned ⁵ and the apparent lack of professionalism on the part of the prosecution, I hope you'll agree that justice has not been served in this case and deal with these to reverse that trend. Guy Stringham is a murderer and should be charged accordingly." Judge Buffington gave Mr. Snipes permission to "write a letter to the Court" with any additional comments. "I'll consider the letter. I'll consider your comments in making the decision that I have to make." After conferring with counsel for both sides regarding the materials he could examine to familiarize himself with the case, Judge Buffington continued matters until January 30th.

On January 30th the court conducted a hearing at which the parties earnestly requested acceptance of the plea bargain. The prosecutor outlined several perceived obstacles to convicting defendant for murder, one of the difficulties being the likely unavailability of Detective Williams. (See note 2 and accompanying text, ante.) Judge Buffington, however, was unsatisfied that Williams could not be produced, and his review of the preliminary examination transcript and the other materials designated by the parties for his perusal persuaded him that "there's a case to be tried here." He therefore rejected the bargain and set a March trial date.

The evidence received at the trial need not be summarized in exhaustive detail because defendant does not make any claim that it is insufficient to support his convictions. The pertinent circumstances shown by the trial record can be reduced to the following:

The victim, Paul Snipes, went to Cheryl Horn's house trailer on the evening of August 21, 1986, in response to a telephone request from Ms. Horn. While Ms. Horn was awaiting Paul's arrival, Mitch Farrell came to her house and told her that he wanted to talk to Paul. When Paul entered the house, Farrell hit and kicked him, before and after he tied Paul's hands behind his back. The two men left at approximately 10:30 p.m. When they returned about an hour later, Paul displayed signs of additional beatings. In Ms. Horn's words, "he was messed up, you couldn't tell it was the same person when he left." Farrell continued to beat and kick Paul. James Balfour came to the trailer shortly thereafter.

According to Ms. Horn, Farrell and Balfour were looking for defendant. Balfour telephoned defendant, who came to the trailer. Before the four men departed at about 2 a.m., Paul had "his fingers bent back" by Farrell, who also brandished a knife (brought by defendant) and "threatened to cut his balls off." The beating and kicking continued, mostly by Farrell, but defendant did kick Paul at least once. Defendant, Farrell, and Balfour called Paul names ("punk," "liar," "thief") and Farrell accused him of causing the death of a friend; defendant in particular "wanted to know about who ripped him off." After Farrell stated "We're going to go take him and finish him off," defendant replied "Not so loud, he might hear you." Paul asked the others " 'Just quit beating me.... Just go finish me off.' " After the four men left the trailer, Farrell returned approximately 20 minutes later. The following day Farrell told Ms. Horn that he had shot Paul.

Richard Williams, previously employed as a detective with the Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, testified that he interviewed defendant concerning the Snipes homicide on September 4, 1986. Defendant recounted that "he got ... wound up with everything that was going on and he got himself involved, that he did kick Mr. Snipes, he did threaten Mr. Snipes with the knife," and he did talk about shooting Paul. Upon leaving Ms. Horn's trailer, defendant, Farrell, and Balfour drove Paul away with the aim of "thumping him further." Defendant had a shotgun, which he gave to Farrell, knowing it was about 80% sure that Farrell would use it to kill Paul.

Detective Williams further testified that Paul's body was discovered in the culvert of a freeway embankment. The physician who...