Opinion ID: 2517596
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence Received at the First Penalty Phase Trial

Text: At the first penalty phase trial, the prosecution rested after introducing a photograph of the murder victim taken when she was alive. The defense witnesses testified as follows: Manuel Cueva, defendant's boyfriend and the father of three of defendant's four children, testified that defendant was the loving and caring mother of four children, two of them twin boys born after her arrest in the present case. Following her arrest, defendant continued to express concern for her children and to write and speak to them. Janell Laird, a friend of defendant's who had known her since preschool, testified that defendant's father was an alcoholic who often vomited in front of them and struck defendant and her mother. Laird explained that she was afraid of defendant's father, who eventually abandoned the family. Laird testified that defendant was in the sixth grade when she started using drugs. Laird recounted that defendant had written her from jail, telling her of the importance of staying away from drugs and living a law-abiding life. Laird also testified that defendant had telephoned her from jail, telling her that Autumn Wallace did not deserve to die and that defendant never planned to harm her. Tamara Benedict, a neighbor of defendant's during defendant's childhood, remembered defendant's father as a violent alcoholic. She testified that defendant dropped out of school in seventh grade, at which time she began to run away from home and started injecting speed balls, a mixture of heroin and cocaine, as often as 50 times each day. Defendant often told Benedict that defendant wanted to quit taking drugs but was unable to do so because of her addiction. Benedict testified that defendant sometimes had sex with her drug dealers in order to obtain drugs, had attempted to clean up on multiple occasions, and was able to obtain temporary employment. Defendant wrote Benedict several letters from jail, expressing sorrow for what she had done. Defendant's mother, Sylvia Alfaro, testified that she worked 10 to 14 hours each day, sometimes seven days a week. She testified that defendant's father was an alcoholic, often struck both Sylvia and defendant in the presence of the other children in the family, and threw the family out of the home during drunken rages. Defendant began to be truant from school at the age of 11 years. Sylvia became aware of defendant's drug problem when defendant was 12 years of age, and thereafter attended counseling with her three to four times a week. Defendant became a prostitute when she was 13 years of age in order to support her drug habit. Thereafter, defendant was sent to reside with her grandmother in Mexico but was returned home within five months, after which defendant's mother often found her on the streets, dirty, hungry, and shoeless. Defendant's father refused to intervene and abandoned the family when defendant was 14 years of age, the same year defendant became pregnant with her first son, Danny. Sylvia Alfaro further testified that at one point, she placed defendant into a drug rehabilitation program, but defendant was discharged after 10 days because her insurance coverage expired. Although defendant was able to avoid using drugs during her pregnancy, she resumed her drug use three months after Danny's birth. Sylvia testified that she took defendant's children to visit her in jail, and that she would continue to do so in the event defendant were to receive a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Sylvia did not want to see her daughter die. Dolores Onofre, who had known defendant since she was a child, testified that defendant's father was an alcoholic who had acted violently in the presence of his children and had threatened to kill his wife. Betty Clearly, a manager at a McDonald's restaurant where defendant had worked briefly, testified that defendant was a good employee, dependable and congenial. Sylvia Archuleta, an employee of a Christian program called Teen Challenge, testified that she met defendant at the Orange County Jail. She testified that defendant often cried and expressed sorrow for the grief she had caused the victim's family. Norman Morein, a sentencing consultant, testified that defendant had adjusted satisfactorily at the county jail and that her confrontation with an inmate, which Morein explained stemmed from the other inmate's discussing defendant's case with prison staff, was natural and expected behavior. Morein testified that defendant expressed genuine remorse and sorrow for the underlying crime, and that she had become religious since being incarcerated. Morein opined that defendant could have a positive influence on other persons if allowed to live. Dr. Armando Morales, a psychosociologist, testified that defendant had a relatively stable childhood until the age of five years. Thereafter, she was abused by her violent and alcoholic father, was raped at the age of nine years by her father's friend, experienced racism at school, and suffered from drug abuse. Dr. Morales opined that defendant developed emotional problems, including depression associated with trauma, which contributed to her substance abuse. He further believed that in light of defendant's stable early childhood, she was capable of developing close attachments and of being a positive influence on others. Morales testified that defendant felt remorse and empathy for the victim and her family. Defendant testified at the first penalty phase trial. She told the jury of her unhappy home life, her violent and abusive alcoholic father, the racial prejudice she suffered at school, and her problems with drug abuse. She testified that she began to use hard drugs in the sixth grade. She was forced by economic circumstances to engage in prostitution shortly after becoming addicted to drugs. Defendant testified that she had stolen property to sell in order to pay for drugs. She described the extent of her drug problem and her mother's efforts to address it by placing her into rehabilitation facilities. Defendant also read a letter she had written to Autumn Wallace, expressing her sorrow and remorse for Autumn's death and stating that we took your innocent life. The court ruled that defendant's reference to we had opened the door to cross-examination regarding the circumstances of the crime. During cross-examination, defendant admitted she had murdered Autumn Wallace, but testified she had done so under pressure from the second Hispanic male, whom she referred to as Beto. She refused to reveal anything more regarding the identity of the second man. She testified she had used cocaine and heroin shortly before going to the Wallace home, and was out of [my] her head. She testified she did not know Autumn would be home and did not plan to harm her. She also testified that Autumn recognized her before letting her into the house, that she gave Autumn her eyelash curlers and asked her to clean them, and that she had brought the curlers into the house because she wanted to play the part. Defendant testified that Beto also was wired on drugs, and that upon discovering Autumn in the house, he had become angry, put a knife to defendant's back, and threatened to kill her baby if she did not stab Autumn. Defendant testified she stabbed Autumn a couple of times initially, but claimed Beto must have inflicted the remainder of the stab wounds found on the victim's body. She testified that when she came down from her high, she learnedbut could not believethat Autumn was dead. The prosecutor questioned defendant extensively regarding the identification of Beto that she had provided to Dr. Consuelo Edwards, a mental health expert who had examined defendant on behalf of the defense but had not testified. Defendant testified that initially she told Edwards that the third man's name was Miguel and that he was a friend of defendant's father, and subsequently that she had told Edwards that the man's name was, in fact, Beto and that on his neck a woman's name was tattooed in cursive writing. Defendant identified as Beto the man depicted in the photograph marked exhibit No. 89. In questioning defendant and Reynoso, defense counsel suggested that Robert Frias Gonzales was Beto. In rebuttal, the prosecution presented witnesses Robert Frias Gonzales and his sister Rosalinda Gonzales, both of whom testified that the police had contacted them and investigated Robert's involvement in Autumn Wallace's murder. Robert Gonzales testified that he is known as Beto, but explained he was home with his sister all day and night on the date of the homicide. He was not the man depicted in the photograph labeled exhibit No. 89 whom defendant had identified as Beto. Ultimately, the jury at the first penalty phase trial was unable to reach a verdict, and the trial court declared a mistrial.