Opinion ID: 2639434
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: False Evidence and the Reasonable Probability Test

Text: The false testimony introduced at petitioner's jury trial does not meet the reasonable probability test set forth in Sassounian. Not only was Darlene's testimony of petitioner's supposed confession highly suspect, as detailed above, but there was overwhelming evidence at trial, separate and apart from the items of false evidence, that amply supported the jury's verdict. In other words, had such false evidence not been introduced, it is reasonably probable the result would have been the same.
The murders of Lynda, Denise, and Debbie must not be viewed in isolation because there are many common threads that point to the fact that one person killed these three girls. For example, all three victims were teenagers who lived in Placerville and Debbie and Denise lived in the same foster home. All three victims knew each other and hung out in downtown Placerville. All three victims were killed in the El Dorado National Forest within a two-month period in the late spring and summer of 1984 and the bodies of Denise and Lynda (who were murdered just 17 days apart) were found within a quarter-mile of each other. The bodies of all three victims were found unburied and naked, and their clothes were found nearby, not strewn about, but together. Because no blood was found on the victims' clothes, it can be reasonably inferred that all three were murdered while they were naked. These commonalities lead to the conclusion that the murders were committed by one person and the evidence presented at trial conclusively showed that that person was petitioner.
Evidence of petitioner's incriminating statements was admitted at trial. Several teenage girls testified that before Denise's murder, petitioner had contemptuously referred to Denise, Darlene, and Lynda as sluts. Darlene's mother testified that in September 1984 (after Denise's and Debbie's murders), petitioner volunteered that Denise and Debbie were whores and tramps and they should have been killed. Also, about that same time after the murders, Patricia Kelly confided in petitioner that she suspected her husband was seeing another woman. Petitioner replied, Whores like that should be eliminated the very same term he had used in referring to the victims. In November 1984, during a conversation about the murders of the three victims, petitioner said to Joe and Linda Crespin, If I had stabbed the three girls would I be sitting here talking to you now? Significantly, petitioner referred to the cause of death as stabbing, even though none of the media accounts at the time had identified stabbing as the cause of death.
As discussed above, we adopt the referee's finding that Joanna truthfully testified at petitioner's jury trial that she witnessed petitioner murder Denise. Our finding is based on the fact that Joanna offered information at trial that could have only been known by a person who was present when Denise was murdered. For example, on the first trip to the murder location with sheriffs deputies and Dr. Dougherty, a dark and snowy night with poor visibility, Joanna located Ferrari Mill Road, which was essentially an unmarked dirt road. Once on that dirt road, she originally directed the sheriffs deputies onto the wrong road at the Y fork, but then corrected herself. Once on the correct road, as the car went up a hill with ruts in it, Joanna stated that she remembered that hill. Once at Four Corners, she told them to stop. On the second trip to the murder location, Joanna recognized a tree stump marked with yellow paint just past Four Corners. Evidence subsequently was admitted to show that the stump had been painted yellow prior to the murder. She then pointed down a road at Four Corners and said that the night of Denise's murder we went further down that road. This was the road off of which Denise's remains were located. The two newspaper articles that Joanna later claimed in her posttrial recantation to have read prior to these trips did not disclose which direction to take at the Ferrari Mill Road Y fork, did not describe the hill with ruts in it, and did not mention that the bodies were found at Four Corners, all of which Joanna knew when she led the sheriffs deputies to the site of Denise's murder. [7] On the third trip to the murder location (with Sergeant Wilson on June 22, 1985), which was the first time Joanna led sheriffs deputies down the road off of which Denise's remains were located, she accurately predicted they would go over a small rise and drop down off this rise and [that] it would level out. She then told Sergeant Wilson to stop the car and proclaimed: That's where [petitioner's] car was parked the night Denise was killed. This spot was within 75 yards of the murder scene. As noted, only a person was present when Denise was murdered would possess such specific knowledge. [8] Joanna's trial testimony was corroborated in several critical respects. Joanna testified at trial that there was a trickle of water in the area where she vomited. Just prior to the murder, it rained for four consecutive days. The People's expert testified that, given the rainfall, he would expect shallow puddles in the area where Denise was murdered on June 12. Joanna testified at trial, for the first time on cross-examination, that there was a full moon the evening of June 12. In fact, evidence later admitted at trial showed it was one night before a full moon. [9] Joanna also testified at trial that Denise was naked, running with her hands behind her back, when petitioner stabbed her. Denise's clothes were found apart from her body, corroborating Joanna's testimony that Denise was naked; petitioner kept a knife above his car's sun visor and showed it to Darlene on the night of Denise's murder, saying [t]onight is going to be a good night for business, corroborating Joanna's testimony that Denise was stabbed; and petitioner kept handcuffs in his car, corroborating Joanna's testimony that Denise was running with her hands behind her back. This corroborating evidence reinforces the conclusion that Joanna witnessed petitioner murder Denise. [10] Finally, although there was only media speculation about the cause of death, Joanna knew that petitioner had stabbed Deniseshe told law enforcement so in early November 1984. Also, in early November 1984, petitioner said to Joe and Linda Crespin, If I had stabbed the three girls would I be sitting here talking to you now? Those corroborative statements, made independently of each other and at about the same time, strongly support the referee's finding that Joanna's eyewitness testimony was reliable.
Several witnesses testified that petitioner was the last person to be seen with Lynda, who stated she would be right back as she left with petitioner. And despite the testimony from several witnesses that petitioner knew Lynda, petitioner, on July 5, 1984, told Donald Burrill, Lynda's father, that he did not know Lynda and even denied being in town the evening she disappeared. When El Dorado Sheriffs deputy Detective William White interviewed petitioner two weeks later, petitioner changed his story and said he might have been with Lynda that night. Additionally, the day after Lynda disappeared, Linda Crespin observed him with a scratch on his forehead to which he applied medicine. Petitioner also admitted, the day after Lynda's disappearance, that he had been seeing or dating a girl named Lynda, but stated that girls like that should be eliminated. Finally, Lynda and Denise were murdered just 17 days apart, in the same manner, and at the same location, Ferrari Mill Road. Petitioner was very familiar with Ferrari Mill Road, having camped there several times.
At trial, witnesses offered the following testimony. Petitioner said Debbie was turning out real bad and had threatened Debbie several days before her disappearance. Referring to Debbie, petitioner said shortly before her disappearance You won't have to worry about her much longer. On the night Debbie disappeared, petitioner's car was observed driving by Benham Park real slow and the driver was seen looking through the park at the same time Debbie was at the park attending a party for a friend. Darlene confirmed that she and petitioner were sitting on a picnic bench in the park that evening for about 15 minutes, and she saw Debbie in the park. Yet, four days after Debbie disappeared, petitioner denied seeing Debbie in Benham Park that night. Darlene further stated that, during that evening, petitioner pulled a knife from his car's sun visor and put it in his pants, saying he had to take care of business. Petitioner took Darlene back to the foster home unusually early. Debbie walked home alone after the party because her friends left her after walking her just some of the way home. Finally, as in the case of Lynda and Denise, petitioner was familiar with the area where Debbie's body was found, Camp Creek on North South Road, as he camped and cut wood there on several occasions.
Based on the foregoing evidence, it cannot be said that any of the false statements, viewed separately or together, were substantially material or probative on the issue of guilt or punishment. It is not reasonably probable, therefore, that the result of the trial, had the jury not heard the false statements, would have been different. Our confidence that the jury reached the proper verdict is therefore not undermined. ( In re Sassounian, supra, 9 Cal.4th at p. 546, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 446, 887 P.2d 527.)