People v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 25 May 1967
• Docket Number: Cr. 9154
• Citation: 427 P.2d 820,66 Cal.2d 749,59 Cal.Rptr. 156
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 427 P.2d 820 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Rufus WILSON, Defendant and Appellant. In Bank

Page 156

59 Cal.Rptr. 156

66 Cal.2d 749, 427 P.2d 820

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Rufus WILSON, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 9154.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

May 25, 1967.

Belli, Ashe & Gerry, Belli, Ashe, Gerry, & Ellison, N. Rommel Bondoc and Robert L. Lieff, San Francisco, for defendant and appellant.

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Philip C. Griffin, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

PETERS, Justice.

Defendant, Rufus Wilson, was charged by information with two counts of murder (Pen.Code, § 187) and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder (Pen.Code, § 217).

On April 13, 1965, after a jury trial, defendant was found guilty as charged in the two murder counts and one assault count, and guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, a lesser offense included within the remaining assault charge.

On April 16, 1965, the jury fixed the penalty for the commission of the murders as death. Motions for a new trial and reduction of penalty were denied. This appeal is automatic. (Pen.Code, § 1239, subd. (b).)

Defendant has no prior criminal record, is 43 years of age, and for the past 19 years has worked as a forklift operator in Los Angeles. He was married to Ann Wilson for nine years. She left him, and on January 8, 1964, filed for divorce. After their separation defendant attempted to effect a reconciliation, and occasionally they met or talked on the telephone.

A summary of the prosecution's testimony is as follows: On the evening of October 14, 1964, at about 10:30 p.m., Lewis B. Champion, Joe L. Stoglin, and William Washington accompanied defendant's wife to her apartment in Los Angeles. After they arrived at the apartment, Champion answered a telephone call from defendant. He told defendant that Mrs. Wilson was in the bathroom and unable to come to the telephone. Champion hung up when Mrs. Wilson told him to do so. At this time Stoglin was asleep on the couch and Washington was asleep on the bed, both of which were in the living room. There had been no drinking that night. While Stoglin and Washington were asleep, Champion had been listening to the radio, and Mrs. Wilson had been using the telephone.

Soon after Champion ended his telephone conversation with defendant, he and Mrs. Wilson heard a truck rapidly pull up in the driveway and stop abruptly. They thought, correctly, it was defendant's vehicle. They next heard a crash as the glass in the door at the bottom of the stairs was broken. Mrs. Wilson called the police. She then ran through the apartment to the bathroom. On the way, she threw a pistol and some bullets Champion reached down and pulled Stoglin, who was still sleeping, off the couch. Stoglin awoke and, walking past defendant, followed Champion out the apartment door and down the stairway. Champion rushed out of the apartment building and ran to his home, about a mile away. Stoglin, who was behind Champion as the two were descending the stairway, was not so fortunate. Defendant shot and wounded him, though not mortally. ¹

[427 P.2d 823] on the bed. Champion picked up the pistol and a bullet, and tried unsuccessfully to load the gun. Champion [66 Cal.2d 753] had the gun in his hand when defendant came in the door of the apartment. Seeing the pistol in Champion's hand, defendant pointed his shotgun at Champion's stomach. Champion dropped the pistol and the bullet on the couch, threw up his hands, and said 'Well, I don't have anything to do with this. I don't know nothing about it.' Defendant replied, 'Get out then.'

During these events Mrs. Wilson was locked in the bathroom. When police officers later came to the apartment they found the bathroom door off its hinges and leaning inward. The door had two bullet holes in it. The interior of the bathroom was splattered with blood, and Mrs. Wilson was found, fully clothed, lying dead in the bathtub. She had a large wound in her chest and another in her right hip. The police also found the body of William Washington lying dead on the kitchen floor. He had been shot.

A ballistics expert with the Los Angeles Police Department testified that from the nature of the chest wound he formed the opinion that the muzzle of the shotgun used to kill Mrs. Wilson was about 8 to 12 inches away from her body when fired. The officer also believed that the two holes in the bathroom door were caused by placing the muzzle of the double-barreled weapon up against the door and firing.

Officer James Monaghan of the Los Angeles police testified that as he and Police Officer Robert Miller arrived near Mrs. Wilson's house in response to her telephone call defendant was proceeding away from the apartment house in his truck. Officer Monaghan testified, and this testimony is undisputed, that after stopping defendant and learning that he had something to do with what went on at the scene of the shooting, and after making their protective search, the arresting officers admonished him of his right to remain silent, his right to counsel before making any statements, and informed him that any statements made might be used against him in criminal proceedings.

Officer Monaghan stated that thereafter in response to questioning by himself and Officer Miller, defendant made various statements freely and voluntarily. Defendant told the officers that he had something to do with what went on at the scene of the shooting; that the shotgun found in the truck was his; that he and his wife had been separated for about seven months; 'that he had had a telephone conversation with her approximately an hour before the time he had gone over to * * * (her apartment); * * * that a male voice told him on the phone to get lost and quit bothering her'; that he became angry at this and loaded his shotgun and went to her apartment; that after breaking in the front door he found three men with his wife and fired at them; that he had received the cut on his wrist when he broke the window in the door; and that one of the men in the apartment pleaded with him not to shoot, so he let him leave. Defendant did not deny these statements at trial, but claimed that he did not remember making them.

Defendant's testimony may be summarized as follows: On the night in question, while he was playing cards with his landlady and two other persons, he received a telephone call from his wife. She told him that she was giving a party and invited him to come. When she told him that she had Later, after the card game ended, defendant went to the store for cigarettes. He came back, and then returned to the store for aspirin and a can of beer. As he alighted from his pickup truck after arriving back from the second trip, a car, which he thought belonged to his wife, pulled up behind him in the driveway to his home. Two men were in the car, and were unknown to defendant. They asked him if he was going to his wife's party. Defendant said 'Are you talking to me?' One man answered 'Yeah, I'm talking to you, your wife is giving you a party, and you're way behind time on it.' Defendant replied, 'Fellow, I don't have any beef with you. Why don't you go on and let me alone.' At this point one of the men threw his hat onto the driveway and said, 'Well, you come on over and bring my hat with you, and we'll be waiting for you.'

[427 P.2d 824] also invited other men, defendant ended the conversation by replying: 'Well, give the party to them. I'm not interested.'

Defendant was 'terrorized' and 'aggravated' by this encounter. He called his wife soon afterward in an attempt to learn what the two men wanted with him. Her telephone was answered by a man who told defendant that his wife was not in, and that 'we got rid of her for tonight. We's waiting on you.' After the man cursed at him, defendant hung up. This telephone call further 'terrorized' and 'aggravated' defendant, and he remained in this state for some time afterward. He decided to go to his wife's apartment in order to find out what the men wanted of him. He took a shotgun with him. He did not intend to kill anybody, but merely wanted to give the men 'a scare' and 'run them away.' He thought the gun was necessary because there were two or three men there.

When defendant arrived at his wife's apartment, which was about 1 1/2 miles from his establishment, he found the outside door to the building locked. He returned to his truck for tools with which to open the door and, remembering that he had the gun with him, took the gun and used the stock to break a glass window in the door. He reached through the glass and unlatched the door, cutting his hand in the process.

Defendant then ascended the stairs and forcibly entered his wife's apartment. After finding the men there and permitting Champion and Stoglin to leave, he watched the two men descend the stairs and saw Stoglin stop and 'put his hand up underneath his clothes or sweater.' Defendant fired at him, because he thought Stoglin was reaching for a gun.

Inside the apartment William Washington had awakened and was kneeling beside the refrigerator with his hands out of sight as defendant turned towards him. Defendant testified that Washington 'got up and came right at me.' Washington was shot and killed.

Although defendant recalled some surrounding objects and events, and recalled being afraid of Washington, he had no recollection of firing the shots that killed Washington and Mrs. Wilson. When asked on direct examination if he fired at Washington he stated 'I think I did'; but after that, 'I don't remember. * * * It seemed like noises all over the place,' that he did not remember firing through the bathroom door, and that he did not know at the time whether anybody was then in the bathroom.

Defendant also testified that 'I don't say I remember whether I was afraid of him (Washington) or not. * * * I couldn't tell what I was thinking, because I don't know myself.' He reiterated that he did not remember firing...