Opinion ID: 2672558
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Murder and Attempted Robbery

Text: On June 12, 1997,3 Edward Snow owned Eddie’s Liquor (Eddie’s or liquor store), which was located at the intersection of East Artesia Boulevard and Butler Avenue in Long Beach. Richard Moon was employed at Eddie’s as a clerk. Codefendant Johnson’s sister Marcia4 was acquainted with defendant and Taylor.5 Around 9:00 a.m. on June 12, defendant, Johnson, Taylor, and Marcia 3 All calendar references are to 1997 unless otherwise noted. 4 Codefendant Johnson, his sister, and an unrelated witness share the same last name. To simplify our discussion of the facts and the law, we shall refer to codefendant Johnson as Johnson, and we refer to Johnson’s sister Marcia and witness Stephanie Johnson by first name. 5 Marcia testified pursuant to a plea agreement with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office that provided she would serve a 12-year sentence for her 3 met at Marcia’s home in Compton. Defendant wore black jeans and a black T- shirt with the word “Air” and a white Nike logo printed across the front (Nike Air T-shirt). Defendant had a Glock handgun in his waistband, the same gun Marcia had seen him carrying “all the time” during the previous month. Defendant told them about his plan to rob Eddie’s and assigned each person a task. He instructed Marcia to enter Eddie’s to determine the location of any surveillance video cameras and the number of clerks. Defendant appointed Taylor to be the driver, and directed Johnson to go into the store with defendant. No one objected to defendant’s plan. Approximately 15 minutes later, the group left Marcia’s house in a light gray Plymouth Voyager van Taylor had borrowed from his girlfriend, Zonita Wallace.6 Defendant had the Glock tucked in his waistband when he entered the van. Around 2:00 p.m., Taylor parked a couple of blocks away from Eddie’s. Marcia exited, walked to the liquor store and went inside. She saw a camera, and she saw a clerk standing behind the counter. Marcia purchased candy, returned to the van, and told defendant what she had seen. Defendant and Johnson then walked towards the liquor store. Defendant had a bulge in his waistband. Within a minute or two, there were one or two gunshots, and defendant and Johnson then ran from the liquor store to the van. Taylor drove the group to a house in Long Beach to meet Iris Johnston. The drive took 20 to 30 minutes. The group stayed at the house for about 10 minutes. They then left with Johnston and a friend and drove to defendant’s residence. involvement in the crimes that occurred at Eddie’s in exchange for her truthful testimony. 6 Wallace testified she loaned the van to Taylor in June 1997, but she did not recall the date. She said she was truthful when she spoke with Detective Reynolds on June 19. Reynolds testified Wallace told him she loaned the van to Taylor at about 1:30 p.m. on June 12, and that he returned it at about 4:30 p.m. that same day. 4 Steven Miller had been sitting on a bus bench across the street from Eddie’s on June 12 when he saw two African-American men enter the liquor store.7 Shortly thereafter, Miller heard a popping sound he thought was a gunshot. He then saw the same men run from the store. They ran north on Butler Avenue approximately two blocks and turned right onto East Marker Lane. Miller immediately ran into Eddie’s and saw Moon under the counter on his back, unconscious and bleeding. Miller telephoned the police. He described the two African-American males as 17 to 18 years old, five feet and seven or eight inches tall, with short “Afro style” hair and “thin builds.” Miller added that one wore dark jeans and a black shirt with white stripes on the front. Stephanie Johnson heard gunshots as she drove near the intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Butler Avenue between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. on June 12. She then saw two men running from the direction of the liquor store. One was dark-skinned, slim, and of medium height. He was wearing dark khaki pants and a black shirt with a white shirt underneath, and his hair was curly on top and shaved around the bottom. Stephanie could not describe the second person or recall his clothing. During the afternoon of June 12, Peter Motta was driving on East Marker Lane when he saw a light-colored Plymouth Voyager, the same make and model as Wallace’s, parked near the intersection of East Marker Lane and Butler Avenue. Two African-Americans were inside, one in the driver’s seat, the other in the passenger seat. Two men ran very fast from Butler Avenue towards the van and 7 Miller refused to testify at trial. His observations and statements regarding the attempted robbery and murder at Eddie’s were admitted over a defense objection through the testimony of the police officer who interviewed him shortly after Moon was murdered. 5 then “disappear[ed].” Motta noticed one was African-American, thin, and slightly taller than average. (2) Events Immediately Following the Crimes at Eddie’s Long Beach Police Officers Rudy Romero and Stacey Holdredge arrived at Eddie’s at 2:08 p.m. While Romero spoke with Miller outside, Holdredge went inside and found Moon lying on the floor behind the counter, bleeding and unconscious. Moon died before the paramedics arrived. Iris Johnston was acquainted with defendant, Johnson, Taylor, and Marcia. The group met Johnston at the Long Beach home of one of her friends between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. the day Moon was killed. Johnston testified they arrived in a van similar in make and model to Wallace’s van. After about 10 minutes, Johnston and the group left in that van and drove to defendant’s residence. Along the way, Johnston saw helicopters overhead and asked what happened. Someone said, “There must have been a robbery.” Defendant said “I” or “we” “know [who] did it.” Inside defendant’s residence, they watched the news on television. They then walked to a store. Defendant appeared nervous when they saw a police car. Later, while defendant, Marcia, and Johnston were on a three-way telephone call, defendant told Johnston he wanted to talk privately with Marcia. That evening, Johnston wrote and hand delivered a letter to defendant in which she accused him and the others of having committed “that little robbery in Long Beach.” (3) Investigation Police recovered a bullet from the floor near Moon’s hip and a spent ninemillimeter cartridge casing on the floor near the liquor shelves. There was an indentation in the ice cream machine in the store, which was consistent with the type of mark caused by a bullet ricocheting off a hard item. The owner of Eddie’s testified there was no indentation on the ice cream machine prior to June 12, and 6 nothing was missing from the cash register. Police retrieved a videotape from a videocassette recorder (VCR) inside the liquor store (videotape; or liquor store or surveillance videotape). Los Angeles County deputy medical examiner Stephen Scholtz performed an autopsy on Moon’s body and determined the cause of death was a gunshot to Moon’s back. The bullet had exited through Moon’s chest. Moon’s right knee was scuffed, and his scalp was bruised. Scholtz examined Moon’s shirt visually and microscopically but observed no residue or soot. Scholtz examined Moon’s entire body but found no stippling, which is the marking of skin by powered particles discharged from a firearm. (4) Search of Defendant’s Residence On June 19, one week after Moon was murdered, defendant’s parole officer and Compton police searched defendant’s residence. They found a loaded Glock handgun on his bedroom closet shelf, a black T-shirt with “Air” and a white Nike symbol printed across the front, and a letter Johnston had written to defendant dated June 12. Defendant was arrested the same day. (5) Search of Johnston’s Residence On August 20, police searched Johnston’s home and recovered a letter defendant had written to her that was postmarked August 11. (6) Firearms Evidence Riteway’s owner identified the loaded Glock handgun found in defendant’s bedroom closet as the gun that had been kept under the counter at Riteway. He testified that the Glock had been under the counter on the day of the Riteway robbery. Robert Hawkins, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department crime laboratory firearm examiner, examined and test fired the Glock, and he examined 7 the bullet and cartridge casing recovered from the floor at Eddie’s. Hawkins testified the bullet could have been fired from the Glock, but he could not be certain because there were not enough markings on it. Based on markings on the cartridge casing, Hawkins concluded the casing had been fired from the Glock. Hawkins examined photographs taken of Eddie’s ice cream machine, and concluded the indentation on its outer metal surface could have been caused by a bullet strike. Hawkins used a chemical process on Moon’s shirt that revealed two gunpowder particles, each of which was within three and a half inches of the center of the entry hole on the back of the shirt. Based on those measurements, Hawkins concluded the gun was approximately four to five feet from Moon when it was fired. (7) Physical Appearance of Defendant and Johnson On June 12, defendant, an African-American, was five feet nine inches tall and weighed 152 pounds. On June 20, Johnson, an African-American, was six feet tall and weighed 150 pounds.