The People v. Letner
| Decision Date | 29 July 2010 |
| Docket Number | S015384,Super. Ct. No. 26592 |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RICHARD LACY LETNER and CHRISTOPHER ALLAN TOBIN,Defendants and Appellants. |
Attorneys for Appellant:
J. Thomas Bowden and R. Clayton Seaman, Jr., under appointments by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Richard Lacy Letner.
Fern M. Laethem, Lynn S. Coffin and Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defenders, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Alison Pease and Ronald F. Turner, Deputy State Public Defenders, for Defendant and Appellant Christopher Alan Tobin.
Attorneys for Respondent:
Daniel E. Lungren, Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, George Williamson and Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Mary Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Ward A. Campbell, Matthew L. Cate, Eric L. Christoffersen, John G. McLean and Mark A. Johnson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendants Richard Lacy Letner and Christopher Allan Tobin were convicted of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187), 1 burglary (§ 459), robbery (§§ 211, 212.5), attempted rape (§§ 664, 261, subd. (2)), and theft of an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)), arising from the murder of Ivon Pontbriant in her home in Visalia, California on March 1, 1988. As to each defendant, the jury found true three special circumstance allegations that the murder was committed in the course of the burglary, attempted rape, and robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A), (C), (G)) and returned a verdict of death. The trial court, having denied defendants' motions for new trial and the automatic applications to modify the verdicts (§ 190.4, subd. (e)), sentenced defendants to death and to consecutive prison terms of six years eight months for the noncapital offenses. Thisappeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment as to each defendant in its entirety.
Ivon Pontbriant, then 59 years of age, lived with Walter Gilliland, with whom she was romantically involved, in a residence located at 804 North Jacob Street in Visalia in Tulare County. On Wednesday, March 2, 1988, Ted and Ida Blevins, Pontbriant's parents, became concerned because Ivon had not telephoned them as she had planned. That evening, the Blevins contacted Pontbriant's cousin, Jack Cantrell, and with him went to the house on North Jacob Street. After they knocked on the door without receiving any response, Cantrell looked through a window and saw Pontbriant sprawled on the floor of the living room.
When the police arrived, they found Pontbriant's body lying facedown in a pool of blood on the floor between a couch and a coffee table. She was unclothed except for her socks and a brassiere that was pulled down to her waist. Her hands were tied behind her back with a telephone cord that also was looped around her neck. The cord was tied tightly enough to have made ligature marks upon her neck and wrists. A large, deep cut on the back of her neck had severed her spinal cord and lacerated several blood vessels including the right carotid artery, causing her death. Death from the severed spinal cord could have been essentially instantaneous; she would have bled to death within minutes. Pontbriant also had suffered three stab wounds to her neck two on the left and one on the right that narrowly missed her blood vessels, and three superficial lacerations on the right side of the neck. Had these other wounds severed Pontbriant's carotid arteries, she would have lost consciousness almost immediately, and would have died within minutes. Pontbriant's face had sustained severe blunt force trauma, as though sherepeatedly had been kicked or punched in the face while alive, and there were defensive wounds on her arms. Portions of her hair had been ripped out of her head. A Heineken beer bottle, which had fecal matter on it, was wedged between Pontbriant's buttocks, near her genitals. A pile of clothing found in the living room included a pair of pants and underwear that also had fecal matter on them, and a sweater that appeared to have been cut or ripped open. There was no blood on the clothing. Several hairs were found on Pontbriant's chest.
An ashtray on the coffee table contained several Marlboro and Camel cigarette butts and a Lowenbrau beer bottle cap. The top of the coffee table had a cut that could have been made by stabbing a knife into it. Nearby was a photograph of Pontbriant with a hole in it that matched the cut in the table. Two of Pontbriant's purses were on the floor; the entire contents of one purse had been dumped on the floor, and the contents of the other purse, which contained Pontbriant's checkbook, had been only partially removed. The checkbook did not contain any money, but more than $18 in bills and change were found at the bottom of the purse. The kitchen area appeared to have been wiped down, and in the bathroom was a washrag that appeared to have had blood on it and had been rinsed. A distinctive wine bottle opener of a type sold at a local liquor store was on the kitchen counter. Gilliland testified that he never had seen the bottle opener in the house. In the bedroom, which was in disarray, the police found a blue baseball cap, blood smears on a pillow on the bed and on a doily on the dresser, and semen stains on the carpet. Pontbriant's automobile, a red and white Ford Fairmont, was missing. A quilt that Pontbriant used to cover the front seat of her car was found on a bush near the location where the passenger's side door would be when the car was parked in the driveway. Gilliland testified that Pontbriant was very protective of her car; very rarely would she allow anyone else to drive it.
Gilliland testified that three days earlier, on the morning of Sunday, February 28, 1988, defendants drove to the Jacob Street residence in a car they said belonged to Tobin's girlfriend. For somewhat more than a month prior to that Sunday, Letner had worked for Gilliland two or three days a week helping him repair appliances in the garage behind the house. Gilliland and Pontbriant had befriended Letner; Pontbriant told people that he reminded her of her son. On that Sunday morning, defendants gave Pontbriant and Gilliland a bottle of Kahlua liqueur and a couple of cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. Defendants went inside the house and had coffee with Pontbriant and Gilliland. In defendants' presence, Gilliland mentioned that he was planning to go to Modesto to visit his family. Pontbriant reminded him that the rent was due soon, and Gilliland gave her approximately $340 in cash. She placed the cash in her checkbook and put the checkbook inside her purse. Defendants left after approximately one hour.
Letner and Tobin were longstanding, very close friends. They had known each other for several years while attending high school in the City of Napa, California. Sometime during 1984, Tobin moved to Visalia, where he met and became romantically involved with Jeanette Mayberry. Tobin and Mayberry lived in a residence at 248 South Crenshaw Street, which they shared with Darlene Jolly and Mike Kinnett. Letner also stayed at the house for approximately one month. Sometime during 1986, Tobin and Mayberry moved to an apartment at 301 East Murray Street, and Letner later joined them. After relocating to a different apartment in the building on Murray Street, in March of 1987 the three moved to an apartment on Stevenson Street. Mayberry was pregnant with Tobin's child and gave birth in May of that year. Soon after the baby was born, Letner moved back to the Murray Street apartment. A couple of months later, Tobin also moved back to Murray Street, while Mayberry moved to an apartment at 720 North Bridge Street. Mayberry testified that she and Tobin separated because of Letner's interference with their relationship. Tobin and Mayberry continued to see each other, however, and in December 1987, Tobin moved to the Bridge Street apartment.
In May 1987, Tobin had begun working for a company that manufactured prefabricated buildings. Letner started working for the same company in June.
Defendants were laid off near the beginning of 1988, however, and had no steady employment after that time. Defendants, who did not own a car, occasionally borrowed Mayberry's car to get around. On Sunday, February 28, 1988, Mayberry lent defendants her vehicle to attend a local swap meet in order to attempt to sell various items. When Letner returned the car that afternoon, he told Mayberry that Tobin was meeting with Tobin's ex-wife at a nearby park. Mayberry was angered by this report, and twice confronted Tobin and his ex-wife that day. At one point Mayberry angrily threw away the engagement ring Tobin had given her.
On the next day, Monday, February 29, 1988, Mayberry returned to her apartment and discovered that the bedroom window was broken. She suspected that Tobin had broken the window in order to enter the apartment, because she had removed his house key from his key ring after their quarrels on the previous day. Within a few moments, Tobin (who was intoxicated) and Letner arrived at the apartment. Tobin and Mayberry began to argue, and Tobin struck her and pulled out some of her hair. Letner yelled insults at Mayberry and encouraged Tobin to continue to strike her. After Mayberry managed to get away from Tobin, she ran to an upstairs apartment. The neighbors admitted her and called the police. When the neighbors informed defendants that the police had been summoned, Tobin broke the living room windows of Mayberry's apartment, retrieved his shotgun, and used it to break the windows of her car in the parking lot. He then reentered the apartment, obtained his ornamental sword, and departed with Letner. Tobin returned to the apartment the next day to search for his driver's license and to apologize to Mayberry. Mayberry did not accept Tobin's apology and left. Mayberry returned to the apartment...
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