People v. Townsel
| Decision Date | 21 April 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. S022998.,S022998. |
| Citation | 63 Cal.4th 25,201 Cal.Rptr.3d 19,368 P.3d 569 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Anthony Letrice TOWNSEL, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, and C. Delaine Renard, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette and Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen, Sean M. McCoy. Lewis A. Martinez and Louis M. Vasquez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
A jury convicted defendant Anthony Letrice Townsel of the first degree murders of Mauricio Martinez and Martha Diaz (Pen.Code § 187, subd. (a) ; further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise indicated), and of attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying (§ 136.1, subd. (c)(1) ); it acquitted him of shooting at an inhabited dwelling (§ 246). It also found true multiple-murder and witness-killing special-circumstance allegations (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3), (10) ) and allegations that he personally used a firearm in murdering Diaz (§ 12022.5) and that her murder resulted in the termination of a pregnancy (§ 12022.9). Following a penalty phase, the same jury returned a verdict of death, and the trial court sentenced him accordingly. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)
We reverse the conviction for dissuading a witness, vacate the witness-killing special-circumstance finding, and otherwise affirm the judgment.
In September 1989, Martha Diaz and her son Andrew were staying in the home of her sister, Teresa Martinez, on Saunders Road in Madera. Also living there were Teresa's husband, Mauricio; their two children; and Mauricio's friend Luis Anzaldua. Mauricio's parents and siblings lived in the house next door. Diaz was six months pregnant with defendant's child.
On September 18, 1989, defendant came to Teresa's house and spoke with Diaz about the baby. The conversation was not amicable.
On the evening of September 21, 1989, defendant encountered Luidivina Hernandez, a mutual friend of his and Diaz's. He asked her if she had seen or spoken to Diaz, and whether Diaz had said anything about him. Hernandez acknowledged having seen Diaz and told him Diaz had said only that they were having problems. Defendant told her he wanted nothing further to do with Diaz or the baby, and that if he couldn't have her, neither could anyone else.
About 10:00 the following morning, defendant and a companion pulled up to Teresa's house in a brown car. Defendant got out, handed Teresa an envelope containing a letter, and angrily told her to tell Diaz she had better stay in the house. After he drove away, Teresa showed Diaz the envelope and letter, which was dated September 20, 1989, and addressed to defendant from the Madera Justice Court. It informed him that a criminal complaint charging him with a violation of section 273.5 () was on file against him and directed him to appear in court on November 7, 1989.
About 5:00 that evening, Teresa, Diaz, and their children, along with Luis Anzaldua, were sitting in front of Teresa's house. Mauricio's brother, Rene, was near an ice cream truck parked between Teresa's house and his residence. Defendant and a passenger pulled up in a gray Cadillac. From the car, defendant made a hand gesture like a pistol, yelled at Diaz to get back in the house and that "your ass is mine after the baby is born," and drove away.
Three hours later, around 8:00 p.m., Teresa and her family, including Diaz, along with Rolando Martinez and Luis Anzaldua, were in her house when they heard gunshots outside. Rene and his sister Valerie, next door, also heard the gunshots. Rene and Valerie went to the window and saw defendant shooting a handgun in the air before getting into a gray Cadillac and driving away. After the shooting, family members collected shell casings from the street and gave them to Madera County Sheriff's Deputy Gerald Stephen Kirkland, telling him defendant was the shooter.
Still later that night, around 11:00 p.m., Rene, Rolando, and Anzaldua heard more gunshots outside their houses. Rene and Rolando saw shots being fired from the passenger window of a moving gray Cadillac. Rolando saw two figures in the car, which drove away at a high speed without stopping. Deputy Kirkland again responded to the family's call to the police, and collected more shell casings. Bullet holes were later seen in the garage door and a window of Teresa's house.
About 11:30 the next morning, Anzaldua, Diaz, and Andrew were driving in Anzaldua's car. Stopping at an intersection, they noticed two men standing near a gray Cadillac parked at a gas station. Frightened, Diaz said, "There he is." Anzaldua understood her to be referring to defendant. One of the two men got into the driver's seat of the Cadillac.
Believing he was going to be chased, Anzaldua drove into town, going as fast as 70 miles per hour. The Cadillac followed, matching his speed. As Anzaldua neared the local sheriff's station, the Cadillac crashed into a fire hydrant. Anzaldua and Diaz got out of his car and tried to enter the station, only to find the front and back doors locked. Seeing a tall, dark-complected man wearing a white T-shirt and blue pants walking toward them, Anzaldua, who had worked in the station as a janitor, led Diaz to the basement. There they hid for about 10 minutes before going upstairs, where they told the deputy on duty what had happened. The deputy informed them a suspect was already in custody at the crash site. Anzaldua and Diaz went to the site and saw a Mexican male in custody. Anzaldua and Diaz then returned to their residence, and Anzaldua went to Rene's house next door to visit.
The same day, between about 12:30 and 12:45 p.m., Teresa and Diaz were in the living room of Teresa's home with their children and Mauricio was in the master bedroom. Anzaldua and Mauricio's siblings Rene, Valerie and Marybell were next door at Mauricio's parents' home. A neighbor, David Sepulveda, saw a gray car, possibly an LTD or a Thunderbird, park next to his fence. A Black man he later identified as defendant exited the passenger side of the car, which drove away. In Teresa's house Diaz, seeing defendant approach, picked up her son and ran from the living room. Teresa stepped toward the front door intending to ask defendant what he wanted with Diaz. Defendant opened the door and entered, a gun at his side in his left hand, and Teresa froze. Defendant looked at her without saying anything and walked down the hallway, bumping into Mauricio, who had emerged from the bedroom. Defendant raised his gun and fired twice, hitting Mauricio in the chest. Defendant continued toward the master bedroom, stopping in the doorway to fire three shots in rapid succession. Teresa fled to her in-laws' house next door.
Inside the in-laws' house, Rene, Valerie, Marybell and Anzaldua heard shots being fired. Sepulveda also heard the shots from inside his home and told his wife to call 911. Rene, Valerie and Marybell ran outside and met Teresa, who told them the shooter was defendant. All four took refuge in the in-laws' house, but Teresa soon became concerned about her child, who was still in her house. She started to leave the in-laws' house, but just then defendant left Teresa's house, firing his gun in the air, and approached the in-laws' house. Rene retrieved his rifle and loaded it as Teresa called 911. He and Teresa went to the open garage door and saw defendant walk toward Raymond Thomas Street, which intersects Saunders Road, and fire into the gas tank of Anzaldua's car, parked in front of Teresa's house. Rene took aim and shot defendant in the back of the neck. Defendant fell and crawled some distance before collapsing.
Teresa and Rene ran back to her house and found Mauricio lying prone on the front porch. Inside the house, Rene found Diaz in the master bedroom with bullet holes in her face and neck, her son standing in front of her crying.
When Sergeant Bob Holmes of the Madera County Sheriff's Department arrived on the scene, defendant was lying supine on the ground, holding a 9–millimeter Taurus semiautomatic handgun with the hammer cocked and ready to fire. Sergeant Holmes kicked the gun out of his hand. Defendant identified himself and said he was the shooter. Madera County Sheriff Glenn Seymour arrived shortly after Sergeant Holmes and remained with defendant while Holmes investigated. Sheriff Seymour asked defendant what was going on. Defendant replied: David Sepulveda approached the sheriff and told him defendant was the shooter. Defendant told Sepulveda to shut up, adding, "or you will get it, too."
Teresa Martinez approached defendant as he lay on the ground and asked, "Why my husband?" Defendant indicated he was not through yet and "Morris" was going to "come and finish you off." As paramedics were attending to him, defendant said, "I was paid to do a job and I did it."
Autopsy results showed that Mauricio had been shot twice. One bullet, fired at close enough range to leave powder residue and tattooing on the left side of his face, entered near the right armpit and exited on the right side of the chest without hitting any vital organs. The second, fatal bullet entered the upper right shoulder, moving in a downward trajectory to strike a pulmonary artery within the lower lobe of the right lung and passing through the thoracic aorta, striking the left kidney, and exiting the left flank. Mauricio would have been crouched very low or bent at the waist when this second bullet entered, consistent with his having assumed a defensive posture.
Diaz had been shot five times, suffering wounds to the upper right thigh, right arm, left ear, nose, and the nape of the neck. The latter two...
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People v. Townsel
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