Roderick P., In re

• Decision Date: 16 August 1972
• Docket Number: Cr. 16155
• Citation: 103 Cal.Rptr. 425,500 P.2d 1,7 Cal.3d 801
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 500 P.2d 1 In re Roderick P., A Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. Kenneth E. KIRKPATRICK, as Chief Probation Officer, etc., Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Roderick P., Defendant and Appellant. In Bank

Page 425

103 Cal.Rptr. 425

7 Cal.3d 801, 500 P.2d 1

In re Roderick P., A Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

Kenneth E. KIRKPATRICK, as Chief Probation Officer, etc., Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Roderick P., Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 16155.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

Aug. 16, 1972.

Richard S. Buckley, Public Defender, James L. McCormick, John J. Gibbons, Bitner R. Winckler and Laurance S. Smith, Deputy Public Defenders, for defendant and appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen., William E. James, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Beverly K. Falk, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

PETERS, Justice.

Roderick P., a minor, appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Juvenile Division, finding him to have committed manslaughter (Pen.Code, § 192) and declaring him a ward of the court. (Welf. & Inst.Code, §§ 602, 725, subd. (b).)

Two issues are presented by this appeal. First, whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the petition before the judge beyond a reasonable doubt, and secondly whether a waiver of constitutional rights was intelligently made. We have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to establish guilt, and that the waiver was invalid.

Roderick P. is a 14-year-old mentally retarded child of slight build, weighing less than 100 pounds, and between four and five feet tall.

On Saturday morning, October 3, 1970, at approximately 9 a.m., Mr. Gillespie arrived home from work. He worked on the night shift which customarily was from 3:30 p.m. until 3 a.m., but on this night he worked until 5 a.m. After work he stopped at the home of his wife's sister and stayed there, drinking beer, for about three hours. Upon arriving home, and while attempting to unlock the front door, he discovered that the chain lock was still engaged. After calling to his wife without receiving an answer, he forced the door open, breaking the chain from the wall. Inside the house he discovered his wife's body lying on the living room floor covered with blood. Concluding that she was dead, Mr. Gillespie called the police and touched nothing until they arrived.

The police determined that the victim had been stabbed to death sometime between the hours of 9 p.m. the previous night, a Friday, and 1:30 a.m. the following morning. Of the 19 stab wounds in the victim's body the coroner concluded that only two had been inflicted before her death. The first two had killed her by puncturing her pulmonary artery and her heart. Some of these wounds had been inflicted with such savage force that they caused her breast bones to shatter. The two murder weapons found near the body, a pair of cutlery knives, had been wielded in such a violent manner that the metal blades had been broken off and the handles torn from the shafts to which they were attached. Although the body did not appear to have been dragged, it had been beaten severely by a person or persons of exceptional strength. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, although a few coins were discovered in the grass behind the house. It was difficult to determine whether the house had been ransacked because the victim, a crippled alcoholic, kept her home in a constant state of disarray.

The only fingerprints uncovered in the house which did not belong to either the victim or her husband were located in the bathroom; a palm print on the side of the bathtub and the single impression of a finger on the outside of an upper pane of glass in the window over the bathtub. Both of the prints discovered belonged to the same individual and appeared to have been made as the person lowered himself through the window into the bathtub. This assumption was corroborated by the fact that the screen on the outside of the window had been buckled back in order to facilitate entrance into the house. There were no prints on the murder weapons because the handles were too absorbent and uneven in texture to hold them.

Some cigarette butts with brown filters had been discarded in various parts of the house; alongside them were half-burnt wooden matches. The husband of the victim testified that neither his wife nor he smoked that brand of cigarette nor used wooden matches. Because the back door had been left unlocked, the police concluded that the killer exited through it. When the body was discovered the television which the victim usually watched was off.

During their investigation that some Saturday morning the police questioned Keith, a 13-year-old boy, who lived next door to decedent and who had known appellant for about two years. Keith, who is a husky child, told the officers that after returning home about 11 p.m. the previous night he noticed that the victim's back door was open, the kitchen light was on, and the television was blasting. He observed this while quieting his dogs in his yard immediately adjacent to the victim's house.

That afternoon the officers returned to Keith's home. They asked Keith's mother whether she recognized one of the murder weapons; she replied that it resembled one out of a new cutlery set of six she had recently purchased. Upon examining her set of knives she discovered that one knife was missing. Keith was then asked where he had been the night before until 11 p.m., when he returned home. He said he had been with some friends in Los Angeles. He later admitted at the hearing that he had been drinking both in Compton and in Los Angeles.

Taken to the station to make a statement, Keith repeated what he had told the officers earlier; however, on this occasion he mentioned a number of children who had in the past few weeks stolen a purse and a radio from the victim's house. Although a large number of children, both boys and girls had been involved, Keith singled out Roderick and one of Roderick's friends, Castille, as particularly culpable. Keith said that he returned the purse to the victim. A check of police records revealed that a burglary of a radio had been reported by the victim earlier in the week. It was later discovered at the hearing that Keith had been expelled from school for misconduct at the time these events took place. Keith was not held by the officers after making the statement, and was subsequently granted immunity from any prosecution.

The police did not question the suspects mentioned by Keith until after midnight, on Sunday, October 4. At 12:15 a.m. Officers Franzes and Loreto arrived at Roderick's house which is about four blocks from the Gillespie residence, and were admitted by his parents. The officers informed them they were investigating a murder and a burglary and that they wanted to take their son to the station for questioning. Roderick's mother and father went to his bedroom and work him. His mother asked him what he knew about a murder and he responded that he had heard the children talking about the death of a woman in the neighborhood. When Roderick entered the living room one of the officers told his father that he would advise the minor of his rights. The officer did not read the rights from a form, but recited them from memory. However, Roderick's father testified that because they were given in such a rapid manner he was unable to follow what was said. Roderick was then asked if he understood his rights, to which he responded affirmatively by nodding his head. He gave the same response to the officer's request that they talk. During the entire exchange Roderick rocked back and forth with his fingers in his mouth.

Roderick's nonverbal and unresponsive behavior may be explained by the fact that he is mentally retarded. This fact was established at the hearing and remains undisputed. He attends special classes for the mentally retarded, and his infirmity was confirmed by a psychiatrist who examined him at juvenile hall. After the Miranda warnings were given (Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694), Roderick's father asked the officers if he should obtain an attorney. The officers responded that it was his decision to make. Roderick was then taken to the station without his parents, who were instructed that he would be returned home later. Roderick had never been arrested before.

After he was fingerprinted Roderick was interrogated by the two officers until about 1:40 a.m. He was not readvised of his rights. When asked whether he participated in a scheme whereby he and other children would ask for a glass of water at the victim's house while another would sneak in and steal her purse, he admitted he had. He also admitted acting as a decoy in a similar scheme to steal a radio from the victim. And finally, he told the officers that he had held open a bathroom window at the victim's house in order that one of his friends could crawl through it. He denied having entered the house himself and said that the occurrence took place on Thursday (which was the day before the murder). The police officer testified that Roderick denied having been at the victim's house on the day of the homicide.

Meanwhile, late that same night, the police also apprehended the other suspect implicated by Keith as one of the thieves of the purse and radio, 12-year-old Castille. Like appellant, he was a small boy, weighing somewhat less than 100 pounds. He, too, was apprehended at his home and pulled out of bed. He was not advised of his constitutional rights until he was taken to the station. His parents were not present at that time. He waived his right to remain silent also. It may be significant to note that this minor, like appellant, never stated that he did not understand what he was being told and never used the word 'No.'

After having been fingerprinted and told to wait at a desk in the station for approximately two and a half hours, Castille was interrogated. At this time it was past 3 a.m. He also admitted participating in the theft of both the purse and the radio and holding the bathroom window open so that a third youth, Eric could crawl through.

Eric was...