People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 31 December 1981
• Docket Number: Cr. N
• Citation: 179 Cal.Rptr. 443,30 Cal.3d 470,637 P.2d 1029
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 637 P.2d 1029 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dermon Louise WILLIAMS, Defendant and Appellant. o. 21783.

Page 443

179 Cal.Rptr. 443

30 Cal.3d 470, 637 P.2d 1029

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dermon Louise WILLIAMS, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. No. 21783.

Supreme Court of California.

Dec. 31, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 2, 1982.

Howard Goodman, Encino, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for defendant and appellant.

Quin Denvir, State Public Defender, as amicus curiae on behalf of defendant and appellant.

George Deukmejian, Atty. Gen., Robert H. Philibosian, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., S. Clark Moore, Asst. Atty. Gen., Norman H. Sokolow and Howard J. Schwab, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

Stanley M. Roden, Dist. Atty., Santa Barbara and Gerald McC. Franklin, Deputy Dist. Atty., as amici curiae on behalf of plaintiff and respondent.

BIRD, Chief Justice.

May a trial court dismiss, pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, ¹ a finding of special circumstances under California's death penalty statute (§§ 190-190.5) so that a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole may be modified?

I.

Appellant was charged with one count of violating section 187 (murder), with special circumstance allegations that the murder was committed during the commission of a robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i)) and burglary (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(vii)); two counts of burglary (§ 459); and three counts of robbery (§ 211). The first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on any of the counts. At the second trial, appellant was convicted on all the counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. This appeal follows.

Two incidents are involved in this case. The first took place on December 11, 1978, when the home of Maggie Loney in Long Beach was burgled. According to Mrs. Loney, ² she answered a knock at her door about 10 p.m. A female responded and indicated she had been hit in the stomach and would like to use the phone. When Mrs. Loney opened the door, two males rushed in. The woman went over to the telephone and one of the men disappeared into a back room. Mrs. Loney went to investigate and was grabbed from behind by the other man. She was thrown to the floor and tied up with pieces of cloth torn from two of her dresses and a pillowslip. She yelled at the man not to hurt her; he responded that she had better shut her mouth or he would kill her.

Mrs. Loney lay on the floor until after the people left. She then worked herself free and discovered that many items had been taken from her home. She sustained no injuries. At the preliminary hearing, she identified appellant as the woman who had sought entry. Previously, however, she had identified a photograph of appellant's 12-year-old daughter, Nini, as the female who had come to the door.

The second incident occurred on December 17, 1978. According to David Dickey, who lived with his 85-year-old mother in Long Beach, he heard a knock at the door about 10 p.m. A woman outside stated that she wanted to use the telephone for an emergency. When he opened the door, the woman and three other people entered the house. Mr. Dickey was knocked over the head with an iron and lost consciousness. When he came to, his legs and hands were tied and he had been beaten about the shoulders. He managed to reach the home of his neighbor, Mrs. Robinson, who untied him. He then returned home and found that various items, including television sets and dresses, had been taken. He identified appellant as the woman at the door.

After calling the police, Mrs. Robinson went next door and found the Dickey house in a shambles. She also discovered Mrs. Dickey in the back bedroom on the floor. There were spots of blood on Mrs. Dickey's chest and she complained that the front of her neck hurt. There were bindings around her arms, but Mrs. Robinson did not remember seeing any other bindings. She did recall Mrs. Dickey saying, "They tried to break my neck. Why did they do it?"

Mrs. Dickey died soon after the robbery. A deputy medical examiner for the coroner's office testified that there were two causes of death-a stab wound penetrating the chest and a blunt force injury causing a fracture of the odontoid process of the second cervical vertebra. The victim had been stabbed below the right armpit, the weapon penetrating four inches into the chest. The other injury had resulted in compression of the spinal cord. The medical examiner testified at first that "(c)onsiderable" force was necessary to break the odontoid process, a projection from the second vertebra upon which the skull rotates. Later, however, he stated that "(n)ot a great deal of force" was required to cause the injury. This was in recognition of Mrs. Dickey's age and the brittleness of her bones. Each injury in itself was sufficient to cause death.

There was severe bruising around the neck and a ligature-type imprint on the back of the neck, according to the medical examiner's testimony. He defined ligature as "(a)ny rope-like, flexible instrument." He surmised that the blunt force injury had been caused by a jerk with a ligature tied around Mrs. Dickey's neck.

William Collette, a Long Beach police officer, testified that appellant made a statement to him on January 12, 1979, in which she admitted participating in both crimes. ³ According to this statement, she had met a man known as "Fast Eddie" ⁴ shortly before these events. Soon after they met, Eddie moved in with her and her two children. One evening, he told her that he had "pulled a job" with someone else. This occurred before the Loney burglary.

On December 11, 1978, she was walking near the Loney residence with Eddie, her daughter Nini, and Nini's teen-age boyfriend David. They decided they needed money and would obtain it by taking items from the Loney home. They quickly devised the plan which resulted in Mrs. Loney opening her front door. Appellant was the woman who knocked on the door. She did not intend to take anything when she entered the home, but subsequently searched the living room for valuables. She did not find or take anything. However, Nini found about $200. Appellant did receive some money from the sale of a television set taken from the home.

Officer Collette further testified that appellant told him about the second incident. That time, the robbery was planned in advance. Nini suggested the Dickeys because she thought they had money. The group decided to bring pieces of cloth to tie up the victims. They tore up a bedsheet and braided it into ropes. Besides the four people who had participated in the earlier episode, a man known as "Smooth" was the driver of the getaway vehicle in the second robbery. Appellant obtained entry in a manner similar to that utilized at the Loney residence.

According to appellant's statement, Eddie came in with her and asked for a glass of water. When Mr. Dickey handed Eddie a glass, Eddie and David jumped him and hit him with an iron. She said that she did not see this occur, but Eddie had informed her of it later. Appellant proceeded to a back bedroom where she found a woman. She placed one hand over the woman's mouth and the other on her throat, holding her down. One of the braids was placed by appellant in the woman's mouth and a second braid was tied around her head to secure the first braid. Then, appellant went to the front room to search for valuables. She heard Nini scream from the back bedroom. Eddie ran into the room in front of her. She saw Eddie strike the victim, who fell to the ground. When they left, Eddie told her he had stabbed the old woman with a knife that he had taken from Mr. Dickey. Appellant received a share of the proceeds from the robbery.

Appellant went on to inform Officer Collette that she started staying at her sister's home in Los Angeles rather than her own home in Long Beach shortly after the incident. On December 19, 1978, she learned that Mrs. Dickey had died. On December 30, 1978, she came to Long Beach where she met Eddie, who told her that Nini had been arrested. She called the police station to confirm this, giving her true name but a false address. She and Eddie then decided to go to San Antonio, Texas.

They went to the bus station and bought tickets, but Eddie fell asleep waiting for the bus. Appellant cashed in the tickets, bought one ticket for Memphis, where her mother lived, and left Eddie behind. She spent one week in Memphis with her mother and told her what had happened. Her mother told appellant to return to Los Angeles and turn herself in. Appellant did so, arriving in Los Angeles at 5 a.m. on January 12th. She walked to the police station and waited until Officer Collette arrived at approximately 8 a.m.

Appellant's testimony at trial was in substantial conformity with her statement to Officer Collette. However, she stated that she had participated in the criminal ventures because she was afraid of Eddie. She admitted that Eddie had never hit or quarrelled with her, but claimed that he had once threatened to kill Nini and told her he would do so if Nini did not go along with the second robbery. She further claimed that Eddie gave her drugs, including heroin, which she had taken on the night of the Dickey robbery.

Appellant testified that she had found Mrs. Dickey in the back bedroom, getting out of bed and hollering. When Eddie yelled at her to quiet the old woman, she put her hand over Mrs. Dickey's mouth and held her down in an attempt to do so. She stated that she did this so that Eddie would not kill Mrs. Dickey. She then put one braid in Mrs. Dickey's mouth and secured it with a second strip of cloth. She did not use much force or tie the strip very tight. Appellant denied receiving any money from either robbery.

On the murder charge, the jury was instructed solely on first degree felony murder. (CALJIC Nos. 8.21 and 8.27 (aider and abettor).) They were instructed to find specific intent only as to the underlying robbery and burglary. (CALJIC No. 3.31.) Although...