Opinion ID: 2590272
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Defendant contends the evidence is insufficient to support his robbery conviction, his conviction of murder in the course of robbery or attempted robbery, and the special circumstance finding that he committed the murder while engaged in the commission of robbery. He contends the jury's verdict on these charges therefore violated his due process rights under the state and federal Constitutions. `To determine the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, an appellate court reviews the entire record in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether it contains evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid value, from which a rational trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' ( People v. Wallace (2008) 44 Cal.4th 1032, 1077 [81 Cal.Rptr.3d 651]; see also People v. Kipp (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1100, 1128 [113 Cal.Rptr.2d 27, 33 P.3d 450]; People v. Mayfield, supra, 14 Cal.4th 668, 790-791 [same standard of review applies to determine the sufficiency of the evidence to support a special circumstance finding].) `If the circumstances reasonably justify the trier of fact's findings, the opinion of the reviewing court that the circumstances might also be reasonably reconciled with a contrary finding does not warrant a reversal of the judgment.' ( People v. Bean (1988) 46 Cal.3d 919, 933 [251 Cal.Rptr. 467, 760 P.2d 996], quoting People v. Hillery (1965) 62 Cal.2d 692, 702 [44 Cal.Rptr. 30, 401 P.2d 382]; see also People v. Valdez (2004) 32 Cal.4th 73, 104 [8 Cal.Rptr.3d 271, 82 P.3d 296].) The standard of review is the same when the prosecution relies mainly on circumstantial evidence. ( Valdez, at p. 104.) (17) As stated above with reference to defendant's Aranda/Bruton claim, robbery is the taking of personal property in the possession of another, against the will and from the person or immediate presence of that person, accomplished by means of force or fear and with the specific intent permanently to deprive such person of such property .... (CALJIC No. 9.40.) Both robbery and felony murder based on robbery require that the intent to rob arise before force or fear is applied. Thus, [i]f the defendant does not harbor the intent to take property from the possessor at the time he applies force or fear, the taking is only a theft, not a robbery. ( People v. Davis (2005) 36 Cal.4th 510, 562 [31 Cal.Rptr.3d 96, 115 P.3d 417].) Similarly, an intent to steal that arises after the infliction of the fatal wounds cannot support a felony-murder conviction. ( Id. at pp. 564-565.) Finally, the special circumstance of murder during the commission of a robbery requires that the murder be committed in order to advance [the] independent felonious purpose of robbery, but the special circumstance is not established when the felony is merely incidental to the murder. ( People v. Green, supra, 27 Cal.3d at p. 61; see People v. Davis, supra, 36 Cal.4th at p. 568; People v. Horning (2004) 34 Cal.4th 871, 907-908 [22 Cal.Rptr.3d 305, 102 P.3d 228].) In the present case, the prosecutor argued to the jury that a robbery had been committed because the victim's wallet, automobile, and car keys had been taken. Defendant contends there was insufficient evidence of robbery because he and his companions did not, at the time they took the victim's car keys and automobile at gunpoint, intend permanently to deprive the victim of his keys or his automobile, but intended instead to use the vehicle only temporarily. With regard to the wallet, defendant contends he did not share the specific intent of his codefendants to deprive the victim of his wallet. We conclude, to the contrary, that substantial evidence supports a finding that defendant committed a robbery, and that he possessed the specific intent to permanently deprive the victim at least of his automobile (and probably his wallet as well). First, it is undisputed that defendant and his codefendants at gunpoint forced the victim from his automobile and into the trunk of the vehicle. Defendant conceded to the police that he employed the ruse of asking the victim the time in order to persuade him to lower his window; that prior to approaching the victim, he and the others discussed jacking the victim which he explained to officers meant robbing him; that he joined his codefendants in forcing the victim from his automobile and into the trunk of the vehicle at gunpoint; and that the victim left the car keys in the keyhole of the trunk, requiring defendant to retrieve them in order to drive away. He also told Jeannette Roper that the men initially had planned to, but ultimately did not, steal the victim's car stereo. Very shortly after forcing the victim into the trunk at gunpoint, defendant and his codefendants discussed the need to kill the victim, because he would be able to identify them. Defendant clearly attempted to minimize his culpability as much as possible, consistent with the evidence. Toward this end, he informed the police that he told his codefendants that rather than killing the victim, they simply should park his vehicle somewhere, leaving the victim unharmed in the trunk, but that because his codefendants repeatedly urged him to kill the victim, he did kill him without actually wanting to do so. Although defendant contends this evidence establishes that he did not possess the intent, at the time he took the automobile from the victim, permanently to deprive him of the use of his automobile, nevertheless a reasonable jury, considering this same evidence, could reject defendant's explanation as unreasonable. The jury was not required to believe defendant's claim to the police that at the time he forced the victim into the trunk at gunpoint, he intended only to temporarily borrow the victim's automobile and eventually return it. Additionally, substantial evidence supports a finding that defendant was guilty of robbery because he intentionally aided and abetted the codefendants in taking the victim's wallet and therefore intended permanently to deprive the victim of the money contained in that wallet. The victim's wallet was found on a street other than the one where the shooting took place. The wallet contained no money except for a $1 bill, which was found in the wallet portion as opposed to the billfold part of the wallet. As the prosecution argued to the jury, the circumstance that the billfold section of the wallet was empty supported an inference that money had been taken from it. There also was substantial evidence suggesting that defendant shared the intent of his codefendants to steal money from the victim's wallet. Defendant informed the detectives that one of his codefendants demanded the victim's wallet immediately after defendant and the others forced the victim from his automobile at gunpoint, all three having just discussed jacking the victim. The victim handed the wallet to one of the codefendants before he was forced into his trunk. A reasonable jury could infer from this evidence that defendant shared the codefendants' intent to take the victim's wallet and money at the time defendant willingly joined them in forcing the victim from his automobile and into the vehicle trunk at gunpoint. Defendant's argument regarding the sufficiency of the evidence of the robbery-murder special circumstance fails for the same reasons that apply to his primary sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument. The sole intent required for the jury to find true the robbery-murder special-circumstance allegation is the intent to commit a robbery before or during the killing. ( People v. Koontz (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1041, 1079-1080 [119 Cal.Rptr.2d 859, 46 P.3d 335]; People v. Musselwhite (1998) 17 Cal.4th 1216, 1263 [74 Cal.Rptr.2d 212, 954 P.2d 475].) As explained above, the evidence was sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to find that defendant shot the victim in the course of robbing him.
(18) Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction of kidnapping for robbery, and of first degree felony murder to the extent the latter offense was predicated upon murder perpetrated in the commission of a kidnapping for robbery. Any person who kidnaps or carries away any individual to commit robbery is guilty of kidnapping for robbery. (§ 209, subd. (b).) Kidnapping for robbery, or aggravated kidnapping, requires movement of the victim that is not merely incidental to the commission of the robbery, and which substantially increases the risk of harm over and above that necessarily present in the crime of robbery itself. ( People v. Rayford (1994) 9 Cal.4th 1, 12 [36 Cal.Rptr.2d 317, 884 P.2d 1369].) Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence establishing that the victim was kidnapped, but asserts that the evidence was insufficient to establish that the victim was kidnapped to facilitate the commission of a robbery. His claim of error is based upon the same arguments, discussed above, that he made regarding the asserted absence of intent to commit robbery. For the reasons already stated, defendant's related claim regarding kidnapping for robbery also must fail.
Defendant contends insufficient evidence supports any verdict of felony murder predicated upon a finding that the murder was committed in the course of a kidnapping. As noted above, however, there was substantial evidence demonstrating that defendant committed the crime of kidnapping that is, that he forced the victim into the trunk of his own automobile at gunpoint, and then transported him over a substantial distance without his consent. There also was substantial evidence indicating that defendant killed Kondrath during the commission of that kidnapping, and that he killed the victim in order to advance the commission of the kidnappingthat is, to eliminate Kondrath as a witness. (See People v. Green, supra, 27 Cal.3d at p. 61.) The evidence was sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to find that defendant shot the victim in the course of kidnapping him.