Opinion ID: 2586480
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior unadjudicated criminal activity involving force or violence

Text: The prosecution introduced evidence of the following prior unadjudicated criminal offenses involving force or violence under section 190.3, factor (b).
On September 13, 1985, defendant punched his former wife, Nancy D'Arcy, numerous times in the face, held a knife to her throat, and threatened to cut off her hands and knock out her teeth in order to prevent identification of her body. After the attack, police found Nancy hysterical in the street with a swollen eye and a bloody nose that appeared to have been broken.
In early 1987, defendant moved in with his girlfriend Joan and her three children, including 18-year-old Jeremy and 20-year-old Corey. He lived with Joan on and off for several years. On February 4, 1988, Joan asked defendant to stop yelling during his telephone conversation. He became angry and repeatedly grabbed Joan by her hair and threw her to the floor, pulling out clumps of hair. He punched and kicked holes in two walls in the house. On August 25, 1988, when defendant told Joan he wanted to use her truck, she was reluctant. He told her, Get out of my way you f'ing bitch, and then pushed her onto the concrete driveway with such force that she urinated on herself. Joan suffered kidney pain and a scraped elbow. On September 18, 1989, defendant asked Joan for her bank card in order to purchase alcohol; she refused. He became violent, grabbed and twisted her neck, and tried to choke her. He then pushed her, and she hit her head on a bedpost. Shortly after the incident, she applied for a temporary restraining order, then telephoned defendant from the courthouse to inform him she had filed for the restraining order and to ask him to leave her house. Defendant reacted by spray painting walls in Joan's house, slashing her furniture and clothing, and breaking her furniture. She and her family thereafter lived in a hotel for three months while the house was repaired. After this incident, defendant moved out of Joan's house. On October 10, 1990, defendant telephoned her several times and threatened to kill her if she did not let him move back into her house. Joan believed his threats and immediately called the police.
In early April 1991, defendant again was living with Joan and her three children and was working with Thomas Thompson at a telemarketing firm. Defendant was fired because he failed to show up for work on two consecutive days. Defendant blamed Thompson and planned to beat him up. On May 21, 1991, Thompson and Thompson's friend Leonard Godfrey returned with Corey to Joan's house after attending a baseball game. Defendant grabbed an aluminum baseball bat and, standing behind Thompson, hit him on the back of his knees and knocked him into a sofa. Thompson defended himself against defendant's next swing, which glanced off Thompson's hand and forehead. Thompson fled when Joan intervened. Wielding the bat over his head, defendant chased Thompson outside the house and caught up with him when Thompson fell to the ground. Godfrey stepped in front of defendant, who told him to move. Godfrey did not move, and defendant hit him with the bat. After dropping down on one knee, Godfrey stood up. Defendant then hit him with the bat twice in the head and at least 10 times in his sides with sufficient force to knock him off his feet. Godfrey sustained a bloody lip and numerous bruises. During this incident, defendant also threatened to hit Corey with the bat. The victims reported the incident to police, and the investigating officer discovered the bat in a riverbed behind Joan's house. In mid-1992, defendant choked Terrence Berg with one hand when Berg refused to sell him marijuana. On January 29, 1993, after an argument with Corey, defendant told Corey to hit him. When Corey refused, he hit Corey across the side of his face. On one occasion before 1990, defendant had put Corey in a headlock.