People v. Williams

• Decision Date: 22 June 1989
• Docket Number: No. S004450,S004450
• Citation: 774 P.2d 146,48 Cal.3d 1112,259 Cal.Rptr. 473
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 774 P.2d 146 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Kenneth D. WILLIAMS, Defendant and Appellant. In re Kenneth Derrell WILLIAMS on Habeas Corpus. Crim. 22630, 24736.

Page 473

259 Cal.Rptr. 473

48 Cal.3d 1112, 774 P.2d 146

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Kenneth D. WILLIAMS, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Kenneth Derrell WILLIAMS on Habeas Corpus.

No. S004450.

Crim. 22630, 24736.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

June 22, 1989.

[774 P.2d 147] Douglas R. Greer, Sacramento, and Eric S. Multhaup, San Francisco, under appointments by the Supreme Court, Loretta H. Hellen, Sacramento, and Melissa W. Johnson, Palo Alto, for defendant and appellant

John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., Steve White, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., James T. McNally, Michael J. Weinberger, Edmund D. McMurray and Thomas Y. Shigemoto, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

KAUFMAN, Justice.

Defendant and his brother Fredrick Williams were indicted in Placer County for the rape (Pen.Code, § 261, subd. (3)) ¹, robbery ( § 211), kidnapping ( § 207), kidnapping for purposes of robbery ( § 209) and murder ( § 187) of Heather Mead. Both men were also charged with burglary. ( § 459.) Special circumstances of murder committed during the commission or attempted commission of rape, robbery, kidnapping, kidnapping for purposes of robbery and burglary were alleged ( § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)), as were allegations of having been armed with ( § 12022) and of having personally used a firearm during the commission of the offenses. ( § 12022.5.)

The trial court denied a joint pretrial motion for change of venue. The trials were subsequently severed and defendant was tried first. During the jury selection, defendant renewed his motion for change of venue. The trial court again denied the motion. The jury returned guilty verdicts Following defendant's conviction, the deputy district attorney indicated that he would not seek the death penalty against defendant's brother, Fredrick, but rather would seek life without possibility of parole. Fredrick thereupon renewed his motion for change of venue. The trial court denied the motion. Fredrick then sought extraordinary relief from this court. We issued an alternative writ and thereafter a peremptory writ of mandate directing the trial court to grant a change of venue. (Williams v. Superior Court (1983) 34 Cal.3d 584, 194 Cal.Rptr. 492, 668 P.2d 799.) ³

on all counts and found true all the special circumstance and most of the enhancement allegations. ² The jury fixed the penalty at [774 P.2d 148] death. Appeal is automatic. ( § 1239, subd. (b).)

We have concluded that here, as in the case of defendant's brother, Williams v. Superior Court, supra, 34 Cal.3d 584, 194 Cal.Rptr. 492, 668 P.2d 799, the trial court erred prejudicially in denying defendant's motion for change of venue. Defendant's judgment of conviction, therefore, must be reversed.

Set forth below is a summary of the evidence adduced at trial, followed by a separate statement of the facts and the law concerning the venue question.

FACTS

1. Guilt Phase Evidence

A. Prosecution Case

On June 12, 1980, at approximately 5:20 a.m., the lifeless body of a young woman, Heather Mead, age 22, was found on Industrial Boulevard near Roseville in Placer County. She had been shot five times. An autopsy revealed that Mead had sustained three gunshot wounds to the head, one to the abdomen and one to the thigh. At least two of the shots had been fired from a distance of three to five feet. The time of death was estimated to have been between 3 and 4 that morning. Based on the location of the wounds, the amount of blood and the presence of the expended bullets, the investigating officer, Detective Johnnie Smith of the Placer County Sheriff's Department, concluded that Mead had been shot at that location.

The autopsy also revealed that Mead had engaged in sexual intercourse within two to twenty-four hours prior to her death, and that she had been either a virgin or sexually inexperienced.

Mead was a resident of Roseville in Placer County. During the week preceding her death, however, she had been house-sitting for her vacationing aunt and uncle, Fred and Bettie Graham, at their residence on Roble Way in the North Highlands section of Sacramento.

On the evening of June 10, the day before the murder, Mead had dinner with her fiance, Bruce Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer testified that he left her that evening at the Graham residence and returned to the naval base where he was stationed. He stated that during the 4 1/2 years he had known Mead, they had never engaged in sexual intercourse.

Later that evening, Mead went to Jeffrey Kearney's residence and spent the night there. Kearney testified that he and Mead had been close friends but, like Pfeiffer, denied that they had ever had sexual intercourse. Before Mead left for work the next morning, June 11, she arranged to meet Kearney that evening at a bar called the Blue Lantern in Roseville. The meeting would never take place.

Mead worked as a "gofer" for Atteberry and Associates, an engineering and consulting firm in Roseville owned by her aunt, Susan Atteberry. Mead's aunt and uncle, Fred and Bettie Graham, also worked for Atteberry and Associates. On June 11 On the same day, about 1:30 p.m., Kevin McGruder was driving to his home in the North Highlands section of Sacramento when he saw defendant, an acquaintance from high school, walking on the street. McGruder gave defendant a ride to his (McGruder's) house, which was located on Roble Way, next door to the Grahams' residence. Upon their arrival, McGruder and defendant heard shouting and went into the backyard where they encountered Mrs. Gahan, the neighbor who lived on the other side of the Graham's. Mrs. Gahan was upset because the Grahams' dogs were running loose. She told McGruder that the Grahams were not at home (McGruder recalled that she said they were "on vacation") and that she was concerned because the dogs were unattended. Defendant was present during this conversation. Shortly thereafter, the two men separated.

1980, Mead was told she could leave work about 4 p.m. She informed a coworker that she planned to meet Kearney that evening.

Later that evening, McGruder was driving home from work when he saw defendant's brother, Fredrick Williams, at a neighborhood Circle K store. He stopped and gave Fredrick a ride to his (McGruder's) home. When they arrived, McGruder observed Fredrick put on a pair of black gloves and walk across the street to a park. McGruder noted a white Chevrolet Impala parked in the Grahams' driveway. He had seen it there before. The car belonged to Heather Mead. The time was approximately 12:30 a.m.

At approximately 1:15 a.m., McGruder was in his bedroom watching television when he heard a sound like glass breaking from the direction of the Graham residence. A minute or two later, he heard a voice which he recognized as defendant's saying "stop crying" and words which sounded like the number "86." In an earlier statement to the police and in his preliminary hearing testimony, McGruder was far less certain that it was defendant's voice or that these were the precise words which he heard. In any event, McGruder called the Sacramento Sheriff's office at approximately 1:45 a.m. to report a disturbance next door. A few minutes later, two patrol cars arrived. Either through misinformation or a misunderstanding, however, the officers believed that the caller (McGruder) lived at 6835 Roble Way, which was in fact the Graham residence, and that the disturbance was at 6839 Roble Way, the Gahan residence. The officers observed some lights on and a figure, whom they took to be the caller, peering from a window of the Graham residence. A white Impala was parked in the driveway. The officers checked and "cleared" the Gahan residence and departed at approximately 2:08 a.m.

Approximately two hours later, about 4 a.m., Tammy French, defendant's girlfriend, received a telephone call from defendant at her residence in Marysville. Defendant told her that he was at a liquor store around the corner and that he was coming over. He said that he had left some items on the porch and asked her to take them inside. Ms. French went outside and found a jewelry box, gloves, gun holsters, a mask, a stethoscope, and two knives. As she was placing these in a bag, she saw defendant walking toward the house carrying a CB radio. Ms. French and defendant took the items upstairs. She noted that defendant appeared to have been recently sweating.

Defendant told Ms. French that a friend, Art Johnson, had driven him to Marysville (defendant did not own a car). He had a gun, which he unloaded, and explained that he had "found" or stolen it. Defendant stated that he intended to sell some of the jewelry and either sell or otherwise dispose of the gun.

Later that morning, June 12, 1980, defendant left for Sacramento. He took the gun and shoulder holster with him. At approximately 11 a.m., Kenneth Mitchell received a telephone call from defendant. Defendant asked if he wanted to buy a gun. Mitchell stated that he did and the two arranged a meeting at the home of Tony Armstrong, a mutual friend, in North Highlands. Mitchell purchased the gun (a .38-caliber pistol), a holster and some shells for $25. When defendant returned to Marysville that Two days later, during the early morning hours of June 14, Mitchell was running from the Birdcage apartments in Sacramento, where he had been stealing "in-dashes" from parked vehicles, when he "lost" the gun that he had purchased from defendant. Later that morning, a newspaper delivery boy found the gun and turned it over to the Sacramento Sheriff's department. It was later determined to be the gun that fired the bullets recovered from Heather Mead's body. Fred Graham confirmed that the weapon in question was among the items that had been stolen from his residence.

night, he told French that he had disposed of the gun.

On June 13, the day after the murder, the police found Mead's car parked one to two blocks from the residence of defendant's girlfriend, Tammy French. Defendant was...