Opinion ID: 771148
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: 11 Petitioner argues, first, that there was insufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation to support the jury's verdict of first-degree murder. In a pre-AEDPA federal habeas case, a court faced with a claim of insufficiency of the evidence considers only whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979) (emphasis in original). [T]he prosecution need not affirmatively `rule out every hypothesis except that of guilt'; and . . . a reviewing court `faced with a record of historical facts that supports conflicting inferences must presume -even if it does not affirmatively appear in the record -that the trier of fact resolved any such conflicts in favor of the prosecution, and must defer to that resolution.'  Wright v. West, 505 U.S. 277, 296-97 (1992) (quoting Jackson, 443 U.S. at 326). 12 As noted, Petitioner admitted killing Quinton, and the trial focused on the circumstances of the killing and on Petitioner's mental state. The prosecution alleged that he had acted with premeditation and deliberation. Petitioner contended that he had acted in a fit of spontaneous rage, when Quinton's sexual advances triggered a memory of childhood sexual abuse by Petitioner's mother. 13 Petitioner testified in support of his version of the killing and also offered expert testimony to substantiate his theory. On behalf of the state, the medical examiner testified that Quinton was unconscious but alive when Petitioner strangled him. The examiner noted that Petitioner had wrapped the answering machine cord around Quinton's neck five times and had nicely wound one [loop] on top of the other, in a carefully constructed stack. He also testified that the loose end of the cord had been tucked neatly under the coil of cord and described this technique as a deliberate act.  Finally, the examiner testified that, after strangling Quinton with the cord, Petitioner also strangled him with a wire coat hanger. 14 Two reasons persuade us that sufficient evidence sup-ported Petitioner's conviction for first-degree murder. First, in California, when manner-of-killing evidence strongly suggests premeditation and deliberation, that evidence is enough, by itself, to sustain a conviction for first-degree murder. People v. Hawkins, 10 Cal. 4th 920, 957 (1995). Here, the evidence as to the manner in which Petitioner killed Quinton was sufficient to sustain Petitioner's conviction. The jury reasonably could have found that Petitioner formed the intent to kill Quinton after he knocked him unconscious and then carefully, deliberately, and coldly acted on that intention. The medical examiner's testimony suggested that Petitioner's actions were methodical, not hasty. Although that evidence does not compel a finding of premeditation and deliberation, it is sufficient to sustain such findings. 15 Second, California law recognizes that premeditation can occur in a short period of time, provided that the evidence demonstrates cold, calculated judgment on the part of the killer. People v. Perez, 2 Cal. 4th 1117, 1127 (1992). In the present case, there was evidence that Petitioner carefully and at length cleaned up after the murder, searched Quinton's apartment, and stole his car and other property. That evidence would permit a reasonable finder of fact to conclude that, in the interval between the time Petitioner knocked Quinton unconscious and the time he strangled him, Petitioner developed a plan to rob Quinton and calculated to kill Quinton in the execution of that plan. 16 In short, the district court did not err in concluding that there was sufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation to sustain the verdict.