Opinion ID: 2599073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Robbery of James Dollison (Count IX)

Text: On January 12, 1989, at 4:30 p.m., defendant robbed a third taxicab driver, James Dollison, at knifepoint. Dollison was dispatched to an address on 86th Avenue where he found defendant waiting at the curb. Defendant got into the cab, appeared to momentarily lie down in the back seat, then came up holding a butcher knife which he put to Dollison's throat or chin area. Defendant demanded money, Dollison resisted, and the two struggled for control of the knife. Defendant managed to remove $20 in currency from Dollison's rear pants pocket before Dollison gained control of the knife and bailed out of the cab, cutting defendant's hand or fingers in the process. Defendant jumped into the driver's seat and drove off in the cab. Several days later, Dollison identified defendant as his assailant at a live lineup. Later that same evening, Oakland police located defendant sitting in Dollison's cab parked on 80th Avenue in Oakland. When one officer approached on foot, defendant drove the cab toward him, prompting the officer to jump back into his unmarked patrol car to avoid being hit. A chase ensued involving at least five police officers, which ended when defendant crashed the cab into a private residence, fled on foot, and finally fell to the ground after warning shots were fired. Defendant's left hand was observed to be wounded and wrapped in a blood-soaked rag when he was apprehended and taken into custody. [4]
The primary defense witness at the guilt phase was Tosha Dunson, who was working at the Shell station when Rubalcava was robbed and fatally stabbed. Dunson was asleep in the cashier's booth when a Mexican man knocked on the window, awakening her, and paid for gas. After he paid her, Dunson put her head down and closed her eyes. She was reawakened by yelling, looked up, and saw a Mexican man and a Black man fighting. Dunson saw the Black man punch Rubalcava in the face, rip a wallet out of his rear pants pocket, and run across the street toward an apartment building. She saw no weapons in either mans' hands. She called 911, telling the police it was a robbery. At one point Rubalcava came up to the booth stating he had been robbed and asking her to summon help. Dunson could see that Rubalcava was bleeding heavily, had a hole in the back of his neck, and appeared to be in shock, with his pants torn halfway down one leg. Dunson testified at defendant's preliminary hearing, after which she told the district attorney's investigator that defendant was not the Black man she had seen fighting with Rubalcava that night. She believed the man she saw was darker than defendant. On rebuttal, the prosecution presented evidence that the windows of the cashier's booth in which Dunson worked were tinted medium brown, making things outside look several shades darker.

The prosecution introduced evidence of defendant's juvenile criminal history, which included an escape attempt, as well as evidence of assaults upon correctional officers while he was incarcerated in Soledad Prison, and assaults upon sheriff's deputies while he was housed in county jail awaiting trial for these crimes. In 1983, defendant was arrested for a series of residential burglaries in Berkeley. As he was being transported to juvenile hall, defendant managed to jump out of a Berkeley police vehicle while still in leg restraints, after twice unsuccessfully attempting to wrestle control of the steering wheel from Officer Emberton, who was driving, in an effort to run the vehicle off the freeway. Defendant rolled across the slow lane of the freeway and jumped 35 feet to the street below. When recaptured two hours later, defendant told Officer Emberton, [Y]ou'll never take me alive, because I'll kill you first. Thereafter, while being treated at the hospital for injuries suffered during the escape, defendant told Officer Emberton that it didn't matter where he was placed because there was no jail or institution that could hold him and that he would be out in a week's time. Defendant added that he would kill any police officers who tried to take him into custody or prevent his escape. In January 1985, defendant pled guilty to nine counts of residential burglary committed in September and October of 1984. Although a juvenile at the time, defendant was prosecuted as an adult after being found unfit for treatment in juvenile court. He received a six-year state prison sentence. While incarcerated at Soledad state prison, defendant got into fights with other prisoners on two occasions. On one such occasion, a warning shot had to be fired to break up the fight. While in custody at the north county jail in Oakland awaiting trial for the instant crimes, defendant struck a sheriff's deputy in the mouth after refusing to return to his cell; fought with two deputies who were attempting to retrieve a dinner tray from his cell, sending one to the hospital and resulting in a six-month disability leave; fought with and punched two deputies in the head after refusing to be moved from his cell to a multipurpose room; and attacked and violently kicked a deputy who had removed a list entitled Police Pig of the Year from his cell window. On one occasion while in custody at the Santa Rita Jail, defendant had to be restrained with mace after punching and fighting with deputies after refusing to return to his cell.
Several of defendant's family members testified in his behalf at the penalty phase. Defendant's father, Otis Stanley, Sr., testified he was divorced from defendant's mother, Dorothy Hayes, when defendant, the youngest of three brothers, was still a baby. The mother abused alcohol and neglected the children. At the age of four or five, defendant and his brothers came to live with their father and his new partner, Pearl Stanley, and her children from a prior marriage. The children of the blended family were difficult to supervise, and some got into trouble. Defendant's mother was diagnosed with cancer and died when defendant was 16. Defendant's maternal grandfather also died while defendant was in prison. Defendant's uncle, Joseph Hayes, a water company maintenance worker and Reverend of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Oakland, testified defendant was required to attend church with all of his family members until his grandfather's death in 1981, at which time the family drifted apart. Defendant was more attached to his mother than were his brothers. While she was alive, defendant did a little breaking and entering and stealing here and there to help support her. Reverend Hayes told his sister (defendant's mother) not to accept money from defendant in order to discourage him from committing more crimes. Pearl Stanley testified defendant and his brothers lived with her and their father from the time defendant was four until he moved out at age 16. Defendant went to church regularly and once saved her life when her grandchild started a fire in their house. Defendant's older brother, Isaac Stanley, testified that while their mother was alive, defendant would steal things and sell them to buy food for her. Defendant began using crack cocaine in December 1988, using it daily and consuming eight or nine rocks at a time. Defendant became violent when under the influence of crack cocaine, and he was under the influence of the drug on the night of the Rubalcava robbery murder. Cynthia Williams, defendant's cousin, testified defendant was a kind person who looked after his older brother Isaac. Trenda Stanley, whom defendant met in November 1988 and again in September 1990 while she was in jail for selling rock cocaine, testified she and defendant were married while he was awaiting trial for these crimes. In her opinion, defendant was not using drugs in late 1988, nor did she believe he committed the crimes with which he was charged. On cross-examination, she denied ever having supplied drugs to defendant. The defense also presented the testimony of three expert witnesses regarding the effects of crack cocaine on behavior. Everett Gremminger, who worked for the State Medical Board and had worked in the Oakland Police Department narcotics detail for 20 years, testified that crack or rock cocaine is a highly potent drug which, when burned and inhaled, stimulates the brain and greatly increases the heart rate and blood pressure. Crack cocaine usage causes euphoria and impairs judgment but does not render the user dysfunctional. Most of the people Gremminger arrested who were under the influence of the drug were aware of their crimes, recollected committing them, and generally committed those crimes for the purpose of obtaining more crack cocaine. Dr. William Pierce, a qualified expert in forensic clinical psychology, was enlisted by the defense in 1990 to evaluate defendant and develop his psychological and personality profile. He met with defendant for about 12 hours and administered a battery of psychological tests. He also spoke with defendant's family members and familiarized himself with many of the records and investigative reports in the case. Dr. Pierce believed that defendant's mother's neglect of him, and her inconsistent parenting during his developmentally formative years, created dependency needs in defendant. At age 13, he exhibited more oppositional behavior when he quit junior high school and started committing burglaries. Dr. Pierce believed defendant's personality was characterized by an over-idealized self-image which covers his true feelings of fear and inadequacy. This personality profile, when combined with cocaine use, would expectedly lead to increased aggressive behavior. Defendant told Dr. Pierce that in the latter part of 1988 his crack addiction controlled him and he just started sticking people up. According to Dr. Pierce, defendant was unable to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his behavior to the law due to his cocaine addiction. On cross-examination, Dr. Pierce confirmed that defendant had no medical history of head injuries or loss of consciousness, nor did defendant exhibit any organic neurological dysfunction or severe emotional or psychological disturbances. Dr. Samuel Benson, a qualified expert in the fields of pharmacology and psychiatry, testified crack cocaine is highly addictive, as established by laboratory experiments conducted on monkeys which were given unlimited access to the drug and consumed it in fatal quantities. Based on his interviews with defendant, Dr. Benson believed defendant was severely addicted to crack cocaine at the times he committed these crimes, and that defendant's crime spree might be explained by his drug addiction.