People v. Zamora

• Citation: 18 Cal.3d 538,134 Cal.Rptr. 784,557 P.2d 75
• Decision Date: 16 December 1976
• Docket Number: Cr. 18869
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 557 P.2d 75 * The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Paul ZAMORA et al., Defendants and Appellants. In Bank

Page 784

134 Cal.Rptr. 784

18 Cal.3d 538, 557 P.2d 75

^*

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Paul ZAMORA et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 18869.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

Dec. 16, 1976.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 13, 1977.

[557 P.2d 77] Alan A. Katz, Encino, under appointment by the Supreme Court, James T. Lindsey, Lindsey & Newman, S. R. Balash, Jr., and Balash, Huckle & Perrett, Santa Barbara, for defendants and appellants

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., Jack R. Winkler, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., S. Clark Moore, Asst. Atty. Gen., Norman H. Sokolow and Howard J. Schwab, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

WRIGHT, Chief Justice.

Defendants Paul Zamora, Milo P. Saling, and Michael B. Szymanski, contend on appeal that charges resulting in their convictions for conspiracy and grand theft are barred by the applicable statute of limitations. We conclude that such contentions are meritorious and reverse the judgments.

On June 22, 1972, the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury returned a five-count indictment against defendants. The charges stemmed from a fire which partially destroyed the interior of a residence on April 10, 1968. Count I alleged a conspiracy to commit arson (Pen.Code, secs. 182, 447a), ¹ count II charged a conspiracy to burn insured property with intent to defraud the insurer (secs. 182, 548), and count III alleged a conspiracy to commit grand theft (secs. 182, 487). The indictment further charged the commission of 19 overt acts beginning in late March 1968 and continuing up to and including June 12, 1972, each of which was alleged to have been committed in furtherance of one or more of the three conspiracies charged. Counts IV and V charged two separate acts of grand theft (receipt of insurance proceeds) occurring on May 3, 1968, and September 16 Defendant Zamora filed a motion to set aside the indictment (sec. 995) on the ground, inter alia, that all five charges were then barred by the three-year statute of limitations (sec. 800) and also interposed demurrers to counts I through III on the same ground. Defendants Saling and Szymanski filed a separate motion to dismiss (sec. 995) and demurrers to all counts of the indictment also raising statute of limitations issues. ² After a hearing and the submission of extensive points and authorities by both the People and defendants, the motions to dismiss were denied and the demurrers were overruled.

[557 P.2d 78] 1968, respectively, and further alleged that neither of the thefts was discovered until February 22, 1972.

During the course of the subsequent 31-day jury trial, allegations of overt acts committed on June 12, 1972, and April 17, 1972, were stricken on the motion of the People and the indictment was amended to allege that the most recent overt act in furtherance of each of the three conspiracies occurred in late December 1970 or early January 1971. Each defendant was found guilty on each of the five counts of the indictment. Motions by all three defendants for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative for a new trial based, inter alia, on the statute of limitations, were denied. On appeal defendants once again contend, in a variety of different ways, that the limitation periods had run and that therefore the trial court committed reversible error in not sustaining the demurrers and in failing to grant the post-trial motions and the motions to set aside the indictment. ³

THE FACTS

In 1967 defendant Saling owned several companies known as the M.S. Group, a real estate management and development firm involving all facets of real estate operations. Saling and defendant Szymanski directed various aspects of the brokerage, escrow, renovation and management services provided by the company. During October 1967, Saling, Szymanski, and Guido Hanak, a painting foreman for the M.S. Group, allegedly conspired and attempted to burn down a residential structure owned by the M.S. Group on Clifford Street in Santa Barbara. Only minor damage was done, however, because closed doors within the structure acted as firebreaks. Fire Department Inspector Nielsen suspected that an act of arson had been committed and believed that Hanak was the perpetrator, but Neilsen was unable to develop a case for prosecution and the investigation was terminated.

Defendant Zamora was the manager of Oakdale Manor, Inc., a family corporation which invested in real property, and he had previously worked for Saling as a real estate salesman. Other principals in Oakdale Manor included Daryl Skare, Zamora's brother-in-law who was a Santa Barbara police officer, and Mr. and Mrs. Wood, parents of Zamora's wife. In late March 1968, Zamora approached Guido Hanak through Saling and asked Hanak to plan a fire in a residential structure at 1010 Garcia Road, a building owned by Oakdale Manor. The prime motivation was not perpetration of an insurance fraud. Instead, Zamora was primarily concerned with the most inexpensive method of removal of the Garcia building because it sat across the property line of two adjoining lots and prevented development of a large canyon area behind the two parcels. Fred Cobler, a painter who had worked for both Zamora and Saling was hired to spray the interior of the house with a generously thinned oil base paint, the purpose of which was to increase the Hanak was driven to the Garcia Road residence by Zamora on the night of April 10, 1968. Zamora left for a prearranged meeting place and Hanak spread five gallons of highly flammable lacquer thinner, which he had purchased earlier in the day, throughout a basement kitchen and hallway. Unknown to him, Szymanski had already saturated the area with other flammable liquid and when Hanak struck a match an explosion occurred. Hanak was severely burned and sustained a number of cuts when he threw himself out a window to escape the flames. Hearing approaching sirens, he ran from the yard leaving his eyeglasses, smoking pipe, and flashlight in the kitchen. He telephoned Zamora and went to Zamora's house where an attempt was made to treat his severe burns and cuts.

[557 P.2d 79] flammability of the structure. Although Hanak could have done such work and had done similar work preparatory to the Clifford Street fire, the employment of Cobler was intended to avoid a second connection between Hanak and a destructive residential fire. Cobler suspected that an arson was planned when Zamora instructed him to use the unusual oil base paint and to spray over electrical fixtures and unrepaired wall cracks. Zamora also told Cobler that 'an accident might happen to the house' but stated that the latter would be warned in time to remove his painting equipment.

Later that evening Hanak, Zamora, Saling, and Szymanski met at Saling's residence to devise a plan to aid Hanak. They agreed that Hanak would be taken to receive medical attention the next morning and that Saling and Szymanski would report that Hanak had fallen into Saling's backyard barbeque pit while holding a gallon of paint thinner during a wild party on the preceding evening. Zamora agreed to pay Hanak's medical bills secretly through Saling in order to obscure any connection between Hanak and Zamora or the fire on his property. The conspirators also planned to place Hanak in a private hospital on the far side of Santa Barbara in an attempt to conceal Hanak's burns from any police or fire department investigators. This agreement to conceal the source of Hanak's burns, the cause of the Garcia Road fire and Zamora's connection with Hanak, subsequently became known as the 'barbeque-pit agreement' and plays a significant role in the resolution of defendants' statute of limitations contention as to the conspiracy convictions.

Notwithstanding the conspirators' efforts, investigators quickly learned of Hanak's burns and suspected that he was the perpetrator of the fire on Garcia Road, particularly because they already knew that he had been the prime suspect in the Clifford Street fire investigation. Saling and Szymanski were believed to be a part of a conspiracy to commit an arson because they supplied Hanak's alibi and because both of them had been suspected of involvement in the Clifford Street incident. Once fire department investigators had gathered initial evidence implicating Saling, Szymanski, and Hanak, the task of preparing the case for prosecution was largely undertaken by the Santa Barbara Police Department. Several police officers participated in the initial investigations, but the ultimate responsibility for the investigation was assigned to Officer Lenz. Although he suspected arson and conspiracy, Lenz was unable to connect Hanak with the eyeglasses which had been left at the scene of the fire and he was unable to uncover a motive for arson. Lenz discussed the case with Officer Skare, Zamora's brother-in-law, but he learned little to aid in the investigation. The possibility of insurance fraud was not pursued and the insurer paid about $15,000 for restoration work on the structure. The investigation was soon relegated to Lenz' spare time. Because of lack of progress the fire department offered to do additional investigative work but their efforts were unfruitful. No further investigation was made by Lenz after mid-1968.

In February 1972, Fred Cobler, the painter, informed an investigator from the district attorney's office that he knew that the fire on Garcia Road was the result of arson

[557 P.2d 80] and that Zamora had been involved. The lead was pursued and in June Hanak was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. Hanak had not been fully reimbursed for his medical expenses and, in fact, Saling had sued Hanak during the previous year and had won a judgment against him. Hanak accepted the offer of immunity and recounted all the details of the arson plan and the coverup scheme. He also took part in efforts to gain further evidence incriminating Zamora, Saling, and Szymanski. These...