People v. Trinh

• Decision Date: 05 June 2014
• Docket Number: No. S115284.,S115284.
• Parties: THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dung Dinh Anh TRINH, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

59 Cal.4th 216

326 P.3d 939

173 Cal.Rptr.3d 1

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Dung Dinh Anh TRINH, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S115284.

Supreme Court of California

June 5, 2014.

Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Gary D. Garcia, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney

General, Holly D. Wilkens and Lynne G. McGinnis, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

A jury convicted defendant Dung Dinh Anh Trinh (Trinh) of three counts of first degree murder with a multiple-murder special circumstance, one count of attempted murder, and various firearm enhancements for the shootings and attempted shooting of four staff members at an Anaheim hospital. ( Pen.Code, §§ 187, 189, 190.2, subd. (a)(3), 664.)¹ Trinh's first two penalty trials resulted in hung juries, but the third penalty jury returned a death verdict. On automatic appeal, we affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. GUILT PHASE TRIAL

1. Prosecution Evidence

On the morning of September 14, 1999, Trinh's mother, Mot Trinh (Mot) died of cardiac arrest. A few hours later, shortly after 10:30 a.m., Trinh entered the West Anaheim Medical Center (West Anaheim), where Mot had been a patient in May and June 1999. He was armed with two .38–caliber handguns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition.

Hospital employees saw Trinh walk down a second-floor hallway and turn into the office of nursing supervisor Mila Salvador. Salvador was in conversation with a nurse's aide, Marlene Mustaffa. Trinh shot Mustaffa in the head from a foot away. He then pointed a gun at Salvador and fired but missed. Trinh immediately left. Salvador barred the door to her office, attempted to resuscitate Mustaffa, failed, and called 911.

The firing of shots triggered a "code gray" announcement over the hospital public address system, a warning that generally signaled the presence of an unruly patient. The announcement directed male personnel to respond immediately to the progressive care unit on the second floor. Andrew Armenta, working on the first floor, saw Vincent Rosetti running toward a stairwell leading to the second floor and ran behind Rosetti to the stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs, he heard three shots, stopped, and retreated. Rosetti's body was later found in the stairwell; he had been shot in the head and neck from a foot or two away.

Staffers Norman Bryan and Ronald Robertson also responded to the code gray from the first floor. As Bryan and Robertson approached the stairwell to the second floor, they heard a gunshot. Bryan turned to evacuate employees, while Robertson ran to close off the first-floor lobby doors. As Robertson was trying to close the doors, Trinh approached him and shot him in the chest. Robertson grabbed Trinh and they fell to the ground. Trinh shot Robertson again. Staffer John Collins and patient Joseph Nuzzo joined in and together pinned down Trinh. While he was being held, Trinh said twice, "They killed my mother" or "You killed my mother." Two handguns, a pouch, and bullets were scattered across the floor; staffer George Wilhelm picked up the guns and locked them in an office. Robertson was taken to the emergency room, where he died.

Police responding to the scene took Trinh into custody. After being placed in the back of a patrol car, Trinh stated angrily, "You American people kill my mother. Now I kill you. You kill my people. I kill you. You know, you just kill my mother. Right now she lay at Martin Luther Hospital by herself. You kill her."

A search of Trinh's truck revealed a map with Martin Luther Hospital circled on it and empty boxes of ammunition. Examination of the handguns and ammunition captured inside West Anaheim showed that one .38–caliber handgun contained spent casings while the other was fully loaded. The pouch Trinh had been carrying contained more than 100 additional rounds of .38–caliber ammunition.

2. Defense Evidence

The defense conceded Trinh had shot and killed Mustaffa, Rosetti, and Robertson, and had attempted to shoot Salvador, but presented evidence regarding stressors in Trinh's life that it argued mitigated Trinh's culpability to less than first degree murder.

Trinh and his mother Mot immigrated from Vietnam in 1975, when Trinh was roughly 18. As of 1999, Trinh and his mother had lived together in an apartment in Anaheim for a long time.

In late May 1999, Mot, then 72, collapsed and lost consciousness while Trinh was taking her to the bathroom. She was transported to West Anaheim and stayed there approximately one month. During that time, she underwent hip replacement surgery and on several occasions spent time in intensive care after becoming nonresponsive. Trinh was frequently with Mot at the hospital and fed her, assisted in her care, and acted as her interpreter with staff.

Thereafter, Mot was transferred to La Palma Intercommunity Hospital (La Palma) for an additional month of care and rehabilitation. Trinh was again with her on a daily basis, translating for her and learning how to assist her with basic tasks. In August, following Mot's discharge, Trinh quit his job to care for her full time. Weeks later, he declared bankruptcy.

Around 5:40 a.m. on the morning of September 14, Trinh called 911 and reported that Mot had stopped breathing and had blood coming from her mouth. Trinh received instructions on CPR and paramedics arrived shortly to find him attempting to revive his mother. The paramedics told Trinh his mother's condition was very serious and gave him an address and directions to Martin Luther Hospital, where they were transporting her by ambulance. The directions were correct but the address was wrong; when Trinh arrived at 8:00 a.m., Mot had already died of cardiac arrest. Trinh became very distraught. Asked if anyone needed to be called, Trinh replied that everyone was still in Vietnam.

The defense presented extensive expert testimony concerning Vietnamese family structure, Vietnamese distrust of Western medicine, the need for medically and culturally knowledgeable interpreters to explain procedures, the nature of caregiver burnout, depression among Vietnamese immigrating to the United States in the 1970's, and the grieving process.

3. Charges and Guilt Phase Verdict

Trinh was charged with three counts of first degree murder with special circumstances (multiple murder and lying in wait) and one count of attempted murder. ( §§ 187, 189, 190.2, subd. (a)(3), (15), 664, subd. (a).) He was additionally charged with firearm use enhancements for each count. ( §§ 12022.5, subd. (a), 12022.53, subds. (c), (d).) Before trial, the court dismissed the lying-in-wait special circumstance on the prosecution's motion.

A jury convicted Trinh on all first degree and attempted murder counts and found the multiple-murder special circumstance true. It also found the firearm use enhancements true.

B. PENALTY PHASE TRIALS

Trinh's first jury was unable to reach a verdict on penalty, hanging 10 to 2 in favor of life. A second jury hung as well, 11 to 1 in favor of death.

1. Prosecution Evidence at the Third Penalty Trial

In the third penalty trial, the People relied on the circumstances of the crime and victim impact evidence.

Because the jury had not heard the guilt phase evidence, the prosecution presented anew testimony concerning the shootings. It supplemented that evidence by reading back Trinh's testimony from the second penalty phase trial. In that testimony, Trinh testified that he entered the hospital with a clear mind and a plan, executed three people, felt no remorse, would not apologize, and accepted the consequences. The people he killed, he killed because they looked familiar or got in his way. He originally made his plans when he checked his mother out of La Palma in July, but did not act then because he needed to continue to care for her. Once paramedics took his mother away on the morning of September 14, he knew she would die, so he retrieved his ammunition, loaded his guns, and drove to Martin Luther Hospital and then to West Anaheim. Had he not been stopped at West Anaheim, he would have driven on to La Palma and killed people there, then committed suicide. He wished to be sentenced to death because he had no reason left to live and wanted to join his mother in the next life.

The prosecution also introduced victim impact evidence from Mustaffa's husband, Rosetti's mother, siblings, and daughters, Robertson's wife and son, and Mila Salvador herself.

2. Defense Evidence at the Third Penalty Trial

The defense re-presented its guilt phase expert testimony concerning Vietnamese family structure, Vietnamese distrust of Western medicine, the need for medically and culturally knowledgeable interpreters to explain procedures, the nature of caregiver burnout, depression among Vietnamese immigrating to the United States in the 1970's, and the grieving process.

A witness who knew Trinh growing up testified that in Vietnam he had few friends and family aside from Mot. Trinh and Mot were placed in a refugee camp in Guam in 1975 and immigrated to the United States from there. Witnesses testified that after immigrating, Trinh had few if any friends and no family in the United States, spent all his spare time with his mother, and never married because his entire focus was on taking care of her. Trinh was described as a reliable tenant and as an excellent employee at the various restaurants where he worked.

Trinh testified on his own behalf, as he had at each of the penalty phase trials. In a statement to the jury, he declared he entered West Anaheim intending to execute people, had no excuses, regrets or remorse, would do it again if he could, and accepted full responsibility. He tried to testify that American citizens had supported genocide in Vietnam and denounce the United States...