Opinion ID: 2614001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Chiapella crimes

Text: In 1986, Dr. William Chiapella (hereinafter, William), 68 years of age and suffering impaired locomotion from disease, and his wife, Katherine Chiapella (hereinafter, Katherine), 67 years of age, lived at 1416 Downing Avenue in Chico. On October 9, 1986, Katherine submitted a job order form at the Employment Development Department at California State University, Chico, seeking to employ a student to perform yard work at the rate of $4.50 per hour. On the following day, Katherine hired defendant, who then was enrolled as a student at that institution, but Employment Development Department records indicate he failed to appear for work. In the middle of that month, defendant mentioned the job to his girlfriend, Diana. In mid-December 1986, Julie Gearing sublet her apartment to defendant. Early in January 1987, defendant's landlord telephoned defendant to discuss defendant's rent payment, because the landlord had been unable to cash defendant's check due to insufficient funds. On January 11, defendant contacted his landlord in order to reschedule their meeting from January 12 to January 14, advising him that defendant would pay it all at that time. Meanwhile, on January 6, 1987, William had submitted a job-order form at the Employment Development Department, seeking someone to perform yard work at the rate of $5 per hour. Edith Bullard, the Chiapellas' housekeeper, last saw the couple when she cleaned their residence on January 12, 1987. At the time, she observed that the desk in the study was neat and there was no accumulated mail. She recalled five days earlier having cleaned a plastic floor runner under the desk. On the morning of January 13, Ms. Bullard telephoned the Chiapellas, informing Katherine she had the flu. That same day, John Eyrich, defendant's roommate, noticed that a knife he owned (used by his father years earlier in the meat packing business to drain blood from animal carcasses) was missing. Defendant informed Eyrich that defendant was using it to repair his stereo and would return it the following day. On the morning of January 13, Dr. Joseph Chiapella, William and Katherine's son, spoke with his mother by telephone. That morning, William telephoned Janet Steunkel, a family friend, to wish her a good trip. When Steunkel informed him she was not leaving on the trip until January 16, William advised he would telephone again on January 14 or 15, but never did so. Shortly after 1 p.m. on January 13, Katherine brought a pair of slacks to a local dry cleaners, requesting that they be cleaned by the following day, but she never returned to collect them. At 3 p.m. on January 13, the Chiapellas met with their attorney, Robert Laughlin, for less than 30 minutes. The Chiapellas informed him they planned to travel to San Francisco the following day to attend the theater and visit Katherine's mother. At approximately 1 p.m. on January 13, Rodney Cox was washing his truck in front of his residence (located four homes from the Chiapellas' residence), when he noticed a college-age man twenty feet away, on the same side of the street. The individual was African-American, approximately 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighed approximately 180 to 190 pounds, and was wearing a long-sleeved, white hooded sweatshirt with front pockets and lettering on the front, as well as walkman-type black headphones. Cox observed the man walk toward the Chiapella residence, and approximately one hour later saw him walking along the street and up the Chiapellas' driveway. A minute later, Cox observed the man cross to the other side of the street. Cox did not identify defendant at an in-person lineup, but did select defendant's photograph as one of five which resembled the man he had seen. At trial, Cox identified the man as defendant. Diana (who married defendant in November 1987) testified that she moved in with defendant on January 9, 1987 (at which time her parents discontinued providing her with financial support). On January 13, she and defendant had an argument over money. Defendant left their apartment with a bicycle at approximately 2 p.m., returning with the bicycle approximately two hours later. At that time, defendant informed Diana he had received some money from his father in Texas and asked her to prepare a budget based upon assets of $3,000. On the following day, defendant proceeded to a bank, where he cashed a check dated January 13, 1987, for $3,000, made out to defendant and executed by Katherine. It later was determined the check had not been entered in Katherine's check register, although customarily she recorded the checks she had written. Defendant received the cash primarily in $100 bills. On that date, defendant paid in cash to his landlord the amount of late rent plus $1,277.50, representing all sums due on the lease through July 1, 1987. Defendant paid in cash an $85 traffic fine at North County Municipal Court, and paid in cash $112 to K-mart and $144.63 to Safeway Stores to cover checks he previously had written on insufficient funds. That day, defendant returned his roommate's knife, which later was determined to contain blood on the finger recess of the knife blade. On the morning and evening of January 14, and again on January 15, Ms. Bullard telephoned the Chiapellas but received no answer. The newscarrier who delivered the Chico Enterprise Record testified he delivered it at approximately 4 p.m. on January 13. On the following day, he delivered the newspaper at approximately the same time, noticing that the previous day's paper remained on the porch. On January 15, Joseph Chiapella stopped at his parents' residence and, receiving no response to his knock, dropped a letter through the slot in the front door. On January 16, Lois Cox, a neighbor, stopped by the Chiapellas' residence, rang the doorbell, and, receiving no response, stacked the accumulating newspapers in a corner of the porch. On the same day Audrey Powers, another neighbor, removed the three morning and four evening newspapers, leaving a note. After Ms. Bullard expressed her concern, Joseph Chiapella entered his parents' residence on January 17 and noticed a large amount of mail that had accumulated in the entryway near the mail slot in the front door, including the envelope he had left on January 15. Upon entering the main bedroom, Joseph discovered his father, dead. Joseph entered the bathroom and discovered the words, just the beginning written in lipstick on the mirror. The same words were written on the mirror in another bathroom. Joseph went into the kitchen and called two friends, the emergency 911 service, and his wife. While speaking to her, he saw his mother dead on the kitchen floor, on the other side of the counter. Dr. Gwen Hall, a forensic pathologist who examined the bodies in the residence and later performed autopsies on them, testified as to their condition. We summarize this testimony at considerable length, because it bears upon some of the issues raised on appeal, including the sufficiency of the evidence of torture. Katherine was discovered lying on her back, her head and face covered by a blanket. Her mouth had been gagged and her hands tied behind her back with three separate bindings consisting of strips of strawberry-patterned cloth. (When Ms. Gearing sublet her apartment to defendant, she left behind a set of strawberry-patterned sheets and a matching pillowcase.) Katherine's skirt was pulled up around her hips, and she was not wearing underpants, although there was no evidence of sexual assault. Fecal matter was present on her pubic area. Her purse, its contents spilled out, was located nearby. Prior to Katherine's death, her shirt had been pulled up above her chest and a large knife had been thrust deeply into Katherine's left breast, causing damage to the lung and aorta and breaking four ribs. The knife had been moved within the body, creating a backwards C-shaped wound, and was protruding from the body at the time it was discovered. Prior to death, Katherine had received an additional stab wound to her upper abdomen above the navel, two inches deep and consistent in size with the knife that defendant returned to Eyrich. Prior to death, Katherine also had suffered massive injuries to the head and face. She had incurred a three-and-one-half-inch-long laceration above the left eye, exposing the fractured bone of the forehead, which was caused by a strong blow from a hard instrument, possibly from a dented and bloody fire extinguisher found next to William's body. Prior to death, her nose had been broken and she had received a relatively minor injury to her lower lip. She had died from multiple trauma, primarily from the forehead and chest wounds. William was discovered lying on the rug, his hands tied behind his back to a desk chair, which had been knocked over, his head and face covered by a pillowcase. A large knife found inside his chest had been driven completely inside his body; even the handle was not visible above the skin surface. A sock was used to gag his mouth, and there was a loose binding around his neck. He had suffered 13 wounds. (1) A large laceration and contusion above the right eye had been inflicted by blunt trauma, causing a fracture in the deep skull and bleeding in the ear canal. (2) There was a separate, large blunt-force laceration higher on his forehead above wound No. 1. (3) There was another blunt trauma wound to the right of, and approximately the same level on the face as, wound No. 2. (4) There was a blunt trauma wound behind the right ear. (5) Two separate, blunt-force lacerations had been inflicted in the center back of the head. (6) A small, superficial cut by a sharp instrument such as a knife had been made on the left front of the neck. (7) A long laceration had been made at the center front of the neck. (8) A stab-type wound had been made with a sharp instrument toward the right side of the neck. (9) William's lower jaw had been fractured by blunt force. (10) The upper jaw was severely fractured, with blunt-trauma injuries to the upper lip and tissues beneath it. (11) There was a wound on the upper left chest caused by the large knife having been driven completely inside the body with a great amount of force, as if someone had stomped on the knife or had used a heavy object (such as the fire extinguisher found near the body) to pound on it. The wound was made using several thrusts of the knife. (12) There was a wound to the lower left back, caused by the knife protruding through the body from the other side (wound No. 11). (13) There were two wounds above wound No. 12, approximately one-quarter inch deep, caused by a sharp instrument, consistent in size with Eyrich's knife. Dr. Hall testified, that, based upon the amount of internal and external bleeding that had occurred, wound Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 13 were premortem. The wounds would have caused pain if inflicted while William was conscious. Wounds Nos. 1 and 2 could have caused William's death. The cause of death was multiple trauma, caused primarily by the large chest wound and injuries to the right side of the head. Dr. Hall was unable to determine which of the two victims had died first. The pathologist could not determine the sequence in which the wounds upon William had been inflicted, nor which of the three knives had inflicted specific injuries. The blows received by the victims were sufficient to cause unconsciousness, and it was probable each victim had been unconscious prior to death, although it could not be determined for how long. Two crumpled checks, made out in Katherine's handwriting for cash, but unsigned and numerically immediately preceding the check cashed by defendant, were found inside the front doorway of the residence. A bloody copy of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper dated January 13, 1987, was found open on the kitchen table. In the study, defendant's name and current address were written in defendant's handwriting on a sheet of paper found on the desk. Defendant's left thumbprint was obtained from a Wells Fargo automatic teller slip found on the desk. A shoe print was discovered on the plastic floor runner beneath the desk. An unused portion of cloth similar to the bindings used on the victims was found beneath a chair near the desk. Envelopes containing checks had been opened and the contents strewn on the desk and floor. There were linear markings on the carpet from the study to the bedroom where William was found. On January 21, 1987, Chico Police Department Investigators Rodney O'Hern and Terry Moore and Captain Robert Horton executed a search warrant on defendant's apartment on West 9th Street. The officers located sheets with a strawberry pattern that matched the design found on the bindings used to tie up the Chiapellas. The officers did not find pillowcases matching the sheets in the apartment. The officers seized a pair of black tennis shoes having a small amount of blood on them and possessing a design on the soles that proved to match the design left by the shoe print located in the Chiapellas' study. The officers found a white hooded sweatshirt with lettering on the front and also located two walkman radios, one of which had a black headset.