Opinion ID: 2517672
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prejudice at the Guilt Phase

Text: Demby's unreasonable failure to conduct a more thorough and reasonably comprehensive pretrial investigation into the Boyd connection, and his subsequent failure to present reasonably available evidence of Boyd's guilt at petitioner's trial, would not require relief on the ground of ineffective assistance unless his deficient performance was prejudicial. ( Wiggins v. Smith (2003) 539 U.S. 510, 534, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 156 L.Ed.2d 471.) In this context, we assess prejudice by evaluating three factors: What evidence was available that counsel failed reasonably to discover? How strong was that evidence? How strong was the evidence of guilt produced at trial? (See In re Thomas, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 1265, 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 845, 129 P.3d 49.) We have already described in detail the evidence from various witnesses that implicated Boyd in the murders. To recap here: Boyd was a felon who was a fugitive from the law. In the days following the murders, he made comments to several people suggesting he was the actual killer, including that he tripped on a child, then put a pillow over his face and stabbed him. (There was evidence the victims were stabbed through a pillow.) Boyd was heard to exclaim that he wanted his share of the money for the killing and that petitioner changed the plan by failing to appear and would now get away free because he did not do anything. Boyd threatened several people with violence, warning them not to give his name to the police, and he habitually carried a knife similar to the murder weapon. More than one witness reported that, shortly after the murders, Boyd had cuts on his hands and tried to conceal their origin, telling a false story about working on a friend's car. Boyd concocted a false alibi and coerced his wife and young stepson to support it, indicating a consciousness of guilt. Boyd falsely claimed he had traversed Steven Rice's apartment early in the morning after the murders and saw petitioner and Reilly together. Perhaps most incriminating, although Boyd claimed to have passed out in his apartment the night of the murders, one witness saw him walking around the apartment complex between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., and another witness saw him leave the apartment complex with his friend Marcus around 11:00 p.m. The referee found the witnesses who provided the foregoing evidence were credible and that Boyd, in denying the evidence, was not. This evidence, reasonably available to counsel, was strong and persuasive, coming from several different witnesses who had interlocking recollections of the night before and the days after the murders. The evidence from the witnesses petitioner now presents, missing at trial but reasonably available to counsel, would have pointed the finger of guilt at Boyd, undermined his alibi and severely damaged his credibility, which in turn would have impeached two critical pieces of evidence on which the prosecution relied to convict petitioner: Reilly's alleged confession to Boyd in the laundry room that petitioner was one of the killers, and Boyd's claim that he saw petitioner and Reilly together just a few hours after the murders. Indeed, the referee found this latter assertion was untrue. By contrast, the prosecution argued at trial that petitioner and Reilly committed the murders, that petitioner was the actual killer, and that Reilly either held the victims down or waited outside while petitioner alone stabbed them to death. Subtracting Boyd's testimony, the evidence that petitioner was the actual killer was weak and circumstantial. Reilly did not testify. Although codefendant Clifford Morgan testified, he knew of no evidence linking petitioner to the murders. ( People v. Hardy, supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 126, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 796, 825 P.2d 781.) No eyewitness to the crimes testified, and no witness placed petitioner at the scene of the crime at the time of the murders. No witness reported seeing petitioner leave the apartment complex the night of the crimes. Although the murders spilled much of the victims' blood, no blood evidence linked petitioner to the crime scene. By contrast, police found a spot of human blood on one of Reilly's shoes. ( People v. Hardy, supra, 2 Cal.4th at pp. 121-122, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 796, 825 P.2d 781.) (Michael Mitchell, Reilly's roommate, reported hearing two male voices and the shower running in the middle of the night. While this might explain the police's failure to find any blood evidence on petitioner's clothes, it may equally well have been Reilly and Boyd who took the showers.) No fingerprint, footprint, hair or other forensic evidence connected petitioner to the crimes. The murder weapon was never found. Petitioner was not known to carry a knife, and no evidence was presented that he had ever used a knife in any sort of criminal endeavor. Although Harvey's son told police he had heard both at school and from Steven Rice that petitioner was one of the killers, he disavowed those statements at the evidentiary hearing, explaining that Boyd had pressured him to say them. Because Boyd, whom he feared, was in custody at the time of trial, Harvey's son would have testified and revealed the falsity of his accusations. Aside from Boyd's now discredited evidence, the main evidence implicating petitioner in the murders came from Colette Mitchell, petitioner's then girlfriend. She testified she had passed out that fateful night and thus did not know if petitioner had left the apartment and later returned. Her inability, however, to account for petitioner's whereabouts during the hours of the murdersbetween sometime after 2:00 a.m., when she passed out, and 11:00 a.m., when she woke up and found petitioner sleeping in the apartmentis not the same as saying she saw petitioner leave the apartment during the night. As far as Colette knew, petitioner was with her in the apartment the entire night. The only evidence petitioner left the apartment that night came in the form of a statement Colette testified Reilly allegedly made to her. Colette testified and recounted some of petitioner's and Reilly's comments to her, revealing that petitioner made inconsistent statements about the crimes. Although his comments implicated him in the conspiracy, he never admitted to Colette that he was the actual murderer. For example, Colette testified that after the murders, she and petitioner discussed his alibi all the time, but this may have been because he participated in the conspiracy, not the actual murders. Colette also testified that prior to the crimes, petitioner led her to believe he was going to steal something from someone to enable an unnamed person to collect on some insurance policy. But an anticipated theft is far different than the double murder that was planned by Clifford Morgan and Reilly and eventually committed by Reilly and his confederates. Regarding the actual murders, Colette testified petitioner told her at least twice that he had been to the victims' home the night of the murders, but he also made comments suggesting he was not the actual killer. Although Reilly admitted to knowing the identity of the killers, petitioner denied such knowledge and further denied he was the killer. When she asked petitioner directly whether he was the killer, he also answered in the negative. Despite his suspicious comments suggesting he knew many details surrounding the crimes, Colette conceded petitioner never actually admitted having killed or stabbed anyone. In short, Colette's account of petitioner's alleged statements was contradictory and equivocal. Colette also reported that Reilly told her Boyd and Marcus were supposed to commit the crimes but had backed out because Reilly declined to go with them, thereby suggesting it was petitioner who substituted in. This evidence could have been met with the testimony of James Moss, who could have testified that he heard Boyd angrily state that it was petitioner who had not shown up and that Boyd had to go in his place. Petitioner made many statements to Colette that suggested he participated in the conspiracy to kill the victims and collect the insurance, but in none of them did he admit that he actually stabbed the victims. For example, Colette testified petitioner told her that Clifford Morgan was not worried about the trial delay because his insurance proceeds were earning interest. This statement merely shows petitioner had knowledge of the crimes and may have been a conspirator. Similarly, his statement that Reilly was in charge, that he knew for a fact there was only one killer, and that wire cutters were used to enter the house clearly implicate him in the conspiracy but do not strongly support the prosecution's theory that it was petitioner, and not some other actor such as Reilly or Boyd, who personally stabbed the victims. Although Colette testified petitioner received $1,000, apparently for his role in the crimes, she admitted on cross-examination that she did not know where the money came from, could not remember who informed her of the money's origin, could not remember the first time she saw the money, but remembered seeing it in her cedar box. She could not even remember whether it was she herself who put the money in the box. Moreover, this evidence also was equivocal: Was it payment for petitioner's part in the conspiracy or because he actually killed the victims? Colette also testified that petitioner asked her to help dispose of a pair of shoes and the stolen M-1 carbine rifle, but this evidence similarly was equivocal. Presumably petitioner sought the disposal of both items because they potentially incriminated him in the conspiracy (though in fact no footprints were found), but neither the shoes nor the rifle strongly demonstrate petitioner was the actual killer. In short, although Colette testified and recounted several statements petitioner had made that implicated him in the conspiracy to kill the victims for financial gain, petitioner's comments do not strongly support the prosecutor's theory that he was the actual killer. The persuasive power of Colette's testimony was further undermined by the fact she was subject to impeachment due to her drug and alcohol use and that she admitted lying for petitioner at his preliminary hearing. In a habeas corpus petition alleging trial counsel's investigation or presentation of evidence was incompetent, the petitioner must show us what the trial would have been like, had he been competently represented, so we can compare that with the trial that actually occurred and determine whether it is reasonably probable that the result would have been different. ( In re Fields (1990) 51 Cal.3d 1063, 1071, 275 Cal.Rptr. 384, 800 P.2d 862.) After weighing the available evidence, its strength and the strength of the evidence the prosecution presented at trial ( In re Thomas, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 1265, 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 845, 129 P.3d 49), can we conclude petitioner has shown prejudice? That is, has he shown a probability of prejudice sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome? ( Strickland, supra, 466 U.S. at p. 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052; In re Thomas, at p. 1256, 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 845, 129 P.3d 49.) Were we considering a situation in which petitioner was convicted solely on the theory that he was the actual killer the person who personally stabbed Nancy and Mitchell Morgan to deathwe would conclude the amount and quality of reasonably available evidence showing Boyd was the killer, coupled with the general dearth of evidence indicating petitioner personally killed the victims, undermined confidence in the verdicts to such an extent as to require that we vacate the murder convictions. But although the prosecutor proceeded primarily on the theory that petitioner was the actual killer, he also presented to the jury two theories of derivative liability: conspiracy, and aiding and abetting. As we explain, both theories support the jury's verdict of first degree murder.
One who conspires with others to commit a felony is guilty as a principal. (§ 31.) `Each member of the conspiracy is liable for the acts of any of the others in carrying out the common purpose, i.e., all acts within the reasonable and probable consequences of the common unlawful design.' (1 Witkin & Epstein, Cal.Criminal Law (3d ed. 2000) Elements, § 93, pp. 310-311; see also People v. Kauffman (1907) 152 Cal. 331, 334, 92 P. 861.) ( People v. Flores (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 174, 182, 28 Cal.Rptr.3d 232.) Thus, if petitioner conspired with others to kill the victims for financial gain, he is as guilty of their murders as the person who actually stabbed them. ( People v. Hardy, supra, 2 Cal.4th at pp. 188-189, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 796, 825 P.2d 781.) The amended information demonstrates that the prosecutor intended to rely on a conspiracy theory. That document charged petitioner with conspiracy to commit the crime of [m]urder for the purpose of collecting life insurance proceeds upon the life of Nancy Carol Morgan and Mitchell Raymond Morgan. Although many of the alleged overt acts involve Reilly and Clifford Morgan only, the list of 24 overt acts also specifies that Reilly and defendant Hardy met on May 20th at the Vose Street apartments in Van Nuys with Colette Mitchell to formulate their alibi. In addition, [s]ometime between 12:30 AM and 7:30 AM on the 21st of May, defendants Reilly and Hardy left the Vos[e] Street apartments to commit the murders at [Morgan's home]. In addition, Reilly, Hardy and Morgan, while in custody and during the preliminary hearing, attempted to fabricate an alibi, including passing notes to each other in jail. Further, the information alleged that Reilly and defendant Hardy had over 60 contacts [with coconspirators] while awaiting and during the preliminary hearing, and that petitioner asked his brother to dispose of an M-1 carbine rifle. The jury was given a copy of the amended information listing the alleged overt acts. With regard to conspiracy liability, the jury was instructed: The persons concerned in the commission or attempted commission of a crime who are regarded by law as principals in the crime thus committed or attempted and equally guilty thereof include: 1. Those who directly and actively commit or attempt to commit the act constituting the crime, or 2....