Opinion ID: 2630926
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assertedly Insufficient Evidence

Text: At the close of the prosecution's case-in-chief, defendants moved pursuant to section 1118.1 to dismiss the charges of attempted forcible rape, robbery, and burglary and the related special circumstance allegations, based upon the alleged insufficiency of the evidence. The trial court denied the motions. On appeal, defendants renew their challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence. As discussed below, we conclude the evidence is sufficient to support the convictions and the findings regarding the special circumstance allegations. Because there was sufficient evidence to sustain all of the convictions and findings, defendants' contention that their death sentences must be vacated if any one of the convictions or special circumstance findings is reversed also fails. [18] (17) Defendants initially contend that because they have been sentenced to death, we are required by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution to apply a heightened standard of review to their claims, rather than the standard we routinely apply in both capital and noncapital cases, which is review [of] the entire record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether it discloses substantial evidencethat is, evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid valuefrom which a reasonable trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt ( People v. Cole (2004) 33 Cal.4th 1158, 1212 [17 Cal.Rptr.3d 532, 95 P.3d 811]), presum[ing] in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence ( People v. Kraft (2000) 23 Cal.4th 978, 1053 [99 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 5 P.3d 68]). [19] Defendants are mistaken. As the United States Supreme Court has held in a similar context, the standard of federal [constitutional] review for determining whether a state court has violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee against wholly arbitrary deprivations of liberty is equally applicable in safeguarding the Eighth Amendment's bedrock guarantee against the arbitrary or capricious imposition of the death penalty. ( Lewis v. Jeffers (1990) 497 U.S. 764, 782 [111 L.Ed.2d 606, 110 S.Ct. 3092] [applying the standard established in Jackson v. Virginia (1979) 443 U.S. 307 [61 L.Ed.2d 560, 99 S.Ct. 2781], to federal constitutional review of the state court's finding of an aggravating circumstance in a capital case].) As the high court observed in Jeffers, the application of the facts to the law at a state court trialthat is, the determination of whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the chargesis a question of state law, except to the extent that the determination of sufficiency at issue was arbitrary or capricious under the federal due process or cruel and unusual punishment clause. The application of state law in determining the sufficiency of the evidence will be considered arbitrary and capricious, and therefore a federal constitutional violation, if and only if no reasonable sentencer [or fact finder] could have so concluded. ( Jeffers, supra, 497 U.S. at p. 783.) Accordingly, we apply the standard of review set forth above to ensure that defendants' state and federal rights are protected. We also observe that, for the most part, defendants dispute the persuasive value of the evidence that was admitted against them, pointing to various inconsistencies and inadequacies in the testimony of several witnesses and the physical evidence. In our limited role on appeal, [c]onflicts and even testimony which is subject to justifiable suspicion do not justify the reversal of a judgment, for it is the exclusive province of the trial judge or jury to determine the credibility of a witness and the truth or falsity of the facts upon which a determination depends. [Citation.] We resolve neither credibility issues nor evidentiary conflicts; we look for substantial evidence. ( People v. Maury (2003) 30 Cal.4th 342, 403 [133 Cal.Rptr.2d 561, 68 P.3d 1].) Further, if the circumstances reasonably justify the jury's findings, the judgment may not be reversed simply because the circumstances might also reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding. ( People v. Farnam (2002) 28 Cal.4th 107, 143 [121 Cal.Rptr.2d 106, 47 P.3d 988].) Accordingly, we need notand do notaddress all of defendants' assertions of conflicts in the evidence, or their alternative theories regarding the inferences that should have been drawn from the evidence. In general, the evidence presented was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find that Ivon Pontbriant was murdered in her residence during the evening hours of Tuesday, March 1, 1988, and that defendants arrived at her home together that night while she was alive and departed from the house together in her car after she was murdered. Defendants' challenges focus upon the adequacy of the evidence (or the asserted lack of evidence) to establish what occurred while they were at the victim's housethat is, whether the evidence was sufficient to enable the jury to find that each of the two defendants intended to and did commit, or aid and abet in the commission of, the charged offenses, and to find true the related special circumstance allegations as to each defendant.
Defendants contend that the evidence presented in the prosecution's case-in-chief was insufficient to establish that an attempted forcible rape was committed and, even if the crime was committed, which of the defendants participated either as a perpetrator or an aider and abettor. We disagree. (18) Conviction of the crime of attempted forcible rape requires proof the defendant formed the specific intent to commit the crime of rape and performed a direct but ineffectual act, beyond mere preparation, leading toward the commission of a rape. [Citations.] The elements of the crime of forcible rape are `an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator . . . [¶] . . . [¶] . . . [w]here it is accomplished against a person's will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person of another.' (§ 261, subd. (a)(2).) ( People v. Rundle (2008) 43 Cal.4th 76, 138 [74 Cal.Rptr.3d 454, 180 P.3d 224], fns. omitted ( Rundle ).) (19) The felony-murder special circumstance, section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17), requires that [t]he murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in, or was an accomplice in, the commission of, attempted commission of, or the immediate flight after committing, or attempting to commit one or more of the enumerated felonies. At the time Pontbriant was murdered, the law provided that, as to the actual killer, intent to kill [was] not an element of the felony-murder special circumstance; but when the defendant [was] an aider and abett[o]r rather than the actual killer, intent must be proved before the trier of fact can find the special circumstance to be true. ( People v. Anderson (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1104, 1138-1139 [240 Cal.Rptr. 585, 742 P.2d 1306] ( Anderson ).) [20] To summarize the evidence (drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the prosecution), Pontbriant's body was found unclothed except for her brassiere, which was around her waist, and her socks. Her sweater had been cut at the neck and ripped the rest of the way down to the bottom, but the sleeves were intact. Because her hands were tied behind her back, the condition of her sweater indicated she was bound after having been undressed. Her pants and underwear had fecal matter on them. Pontbriant had been severely beaten, and several clumps of her hair had been pulled from her head. Several of Letner's hairs, which had been pulled out of his head, and several hairs that could have been pubic hairs from an unidentifiable donor, were found on Pontbriant's chest when her body was rolled over. Semen that could have been deposited by Tobin, but not Walter Gilliland, and blood consistent with Tobin's, were found in the bedroom, along with a baseball hat that contained several of Letner's hairs. A beer bottle was tightly wedged between Pontbriant's legs, near her genitals. This evidence was sufficient for the jury to find that defendants attempted to rape Pontbriant. The jury also reasonably could have found the murder was committed for the purpose of preventing Pontbriant from reporting the attempted rape to the authorities, and accordingly had occurred while defendants were engaged in the commission of the attempted rape, or their immediate flight after committing the crime. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17); People v. Guzman (1988) 45 Cal.3d 915, 952 [248 Cal.Rptr. 467, 755 P.2d 917].) Defendants point out that there was no evidence of sexual activity or trauma on Pontbriant's genitals. Defendants, of course, were charged with an attempted rape, not a completed rape, and thus the absence of evidence that Pontbriant actually was raped does not preclude a finding of guilt. Furthermore, contrary to defendants' suggestion, there is no requirement that the prosecution establish why an attempted rape was unsuccessful. [21] Nonetheless, a rational trier of fact could have found that the plan to have sexual intercourse with Pontbriant was abandoned because she had defecated in her clothing and had fecal matter on her body. Thus the lack of evidence of sexual activity on Pontbriant's body reasonably may be explained, in contrast to those prior cases in which we have considered the lack of evidence of a sexual assault as an indication that an attempted rape or rape did not occur. (Cf. Rundle, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 139 [recognizing that the absence of evidence of a sexual assault may rebut other inferences suggesting that the perpetrator intended to have sexual contact with the victim, but holding that, in that case, the inconclusive nature of the evidence (because of the decomposition of the victim's body) concerning whether a sexual assault had occurred did not rebut such inferences].) Defendants observe that we previously have held that the unclothed state of a murder victim is, by itself, insufficient to prove that a rape or attempted rape has occurred. (See People v. Johnson (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1, 41 [23 Cal.Rptr.2d 593, 859 P.2d 673].) In the present case, however, a number of other circumstances, considered in conjunction with Pontbriant's nearly total nudity, support the jury's verdict. The jury reasonably could have found Pontbriant had been bound after defendants forcibly undressed her, supporting the inference that they planned to do something to her that would be facilitated by her being unclothed, and in which she would not be a willing participant. In addition, the presence of sperm in the bedroom that could have been deposited by Tobin (but not Gilliland), the hairs found on Pontbriant's chest, and the bottle that was wedged between her legs near her genitals reasonably could be viewed as evidence of a sexual component of defendants' actions. Defendants are correct in asserting that there is no direct evidence establishing which one of them performed which act against Pontbriant (other than Tobin's testimony that he had nothing to do with what happened to her, which the jury clearly rejected). The jury's reliance upon circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from that evidence, in determining whether both defendants were guilty, does not demonstrate, as defendants urge, that the verdict was the result of speculation. Rather, the evidence and the ensuing inferences adequately support the jury's finding that defendants both were guilty of attempting to rape Pontbriant and of intentionally killing her while they were engaged in committing that crime. (20) The evidence established that defendants had a history of acting in concert. They had been friends for several years, they resided together in various dwellings during their time in Visalia, and they engaged together in activities such as selling items at the local swap meet, practicing karate, and drinking and conversing at the Break Room Bar. There was, in fact, evidence demonstrating that they supported each other in criminal activities: Jeanette Mayberry testified that while Tobin assaulted her at the apartment on Bridge Street two days before Pontbriant's murder, Letner, in addition to yelling insults at Mayberry, encouraged Tobin to continue striking her. The evidence together with reasonable inferences established that defendants went together to Pontbriant's house on the night of the murder, left together in her car after she was killed, both lied to Officer Wightman regarding where they were going, fled to Iowa together, and eventually were arrested together. Neither of them had steady jobs or employment prospects in Visalia, and both of them had tenuous living arrangements: they were soon to be evicted from the Murray Street apartment for failing to pay the rent, and Jeanette Mayberry had just thrown Tobin out of the Bridge Street apartment after a dramatic fight between them. Forensic evidence reasonably could be viewed as indicating that both defendants directly were involved in attempting to rape the victim: Letner's hairs, which had been forcefully removed from his head, were found on Pontbriant's body, and semen and blood, consistent with having come from Tobin, were found in the bedroom. Although defendants attack the significance of the evidence and offer alternative explanations for its existence, we cannot say that no rational trier of fact could have determined that the evidence supported the finding that defendants, acting according to a common plan to attack Pontbriant and steal her car in order to leave town, committed an attempted rape, that Pontbriant's murder occurred during the course of the attempted rape, and that defendants shared an intent to kill her in order to facilitate their escape. (See § 31 [defining as principals in a crime all persons who commit the crime or aid and abet in its commission]; People v. Richardson (2008) 43 Cal.4th 959, 1023 [77 Cal.Rptr.3d 163, 183 P.3d 1146] ( Richardson ) [`An aider and abettor is one who acts with both knowledge of the perpetrator's criminal purpose and the intent of encouraging or facilitating commission of the offense.']; People v. Rodrigues (1994) 8 Cal.4th 1060, 1130 [36 Cal.Rptr.2d 235, 885 P.2d 1] [the evidence was sufficient for the jury to infer that the attackers' actions were coordinated pursuant to a joint plan].)
(21) Defendants' challenges to the robbery convictions and special circumstance findings proceed along lines similar to their challenges to the attempted rape charges: they dispute the credibility of the witnesses, minimize the significance of the physical evidence, and contest the inferences that may be drawn from the evidence to establish their guilt. But, as we have observed, on appeal we do not judge the trustworthiness of witnesses, reweigh the evidence, or assess for ourselves which interpretation of the evidence is the right one. Resolving the conflicts in the evidence was the province of the jury, and we cannot say that no rational trier of fact reasonably could have found defendants guilty of having robbed Pontbriant. Moreover, even were we to discount the testimony of Walter Gilliland and Earl Bothwell, as defendants urge us to do, we still would conclude a rational trier of fact could find defendants guilty of robbing Pontbriant and intentionally murdering her while engaged in that robbery. Robbery is `the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, from [her] person or immediate presence, and against [her] will, accomplished by means of force or fear.' (§ 211.) The intent to steal must be formed either before or during the commission of the act of force. ( People v. Wallace (2008) 44 Cal.4th 1032, 1077 [81 Cal.Rptr.3d 651, 189 P.3d 911] ( Wallace ).) (22) The jury reasonably could find that defendants were in possession of Pontbriant's car, shortly after she was violently murdered. Based upon this evidenceby itselfthe jury reasonably could infer that defendants removed Pontbriant's car against her will by killing her, thus committing a robbery and an intentional murder while engaged in a robbery. ( Hughes, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 357 [We have stated that `when one kills another and takes substantial property from the victim, it is ordinarily reasonable to presume the killing was for purposes of robbery.']; People v. Navarette (2003) 30 Cal.4th 458, 499 [133 Cal.Rptr.2d 89, 66 P.3d 1182] [While it may be true that one cannot rob a person who is already dead when one first arrives on the scene, one can certainly rob a living person by killing that person and then taking his or her property.].) For the same reasons expressed above regarding defendants' challenges to the attempted rape findings, it was reasonable for the jury to find that both defendants intended to rob and kill Pontbriant, and aided and abetted each other in doing so. Defendants argue that it was possible they decided to take Pontbriant's car only after they killed her. The existence of this possibility [of after-formed intent to steal], however, does not render the evidence insufficient. ( Wallace, supra, 44 Cal.4th at p. 1078; see Hughes, supra, 27 Cal.4th at pp. 357-358 [circumstances that the defendant left other items of value in victim's home, and that there was slim evidence suggesting when the intent to steal was formed, did not render unreasonable a finding that the defendant committed a robbery].) We therefore conclude the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdicts and findings on the robbery charges and the related special circumstance allegations. Tobin urges that the jury could not reasonably have found the taking of Pontbriant's property was against her will and accomplished by force or fear, because she might have been intoxicated to the point of unconsciousness at the time of the theft. We disagree. A rational trier of fact clearly could have found that, had Pontbriant been unconscious from drinking, defendants would not need to severely beat her, pull out her hair, and bind her arms behind her back. Further, had she lost consciousness at some point, a rational juror could find that she could not have remained in that condition during such an assault. As mentioned above, the circumstance that defendants might have rendered Pontbriant unconscious or killed her prior to actually taking the keys to her car did not preclude a finding that they committed the offense of robbery, so long as they previously formed the intent to steal. (See also People v. Frye (1998) 18 Cal.4th 894, 956 [77 Cal.Rptr.2d 25, 959 P.2d 183].) (23) In presenting his claim of insufficient evidence, Letner additionally asserts that the prosecutor's presentation of Walter Gilliland's testimony establishing that he gave the rent money to Pontbriant in defendants' presence constituted prosecutorial misconduct, because the prosecutor knew or should have known this testimony was false. Even if Letner had not forfeited this contention by failing to raise it in the trial court, it lacks merit. The prosecutor properly could have concluded that the various inconsistencies in Gilliland's testimony and pretrial statements created a credibility issue for the jury to resolve. When . . . the prosecution has doubts as to the truth of a statement it intends to present at trial, it must disclose to the defense any material evidence suggesting that the statement in question is false. But, notwithstanding those doubts, the prosecutor may still present the statement to the jury . . . . ( People v. Harrison (2005) 35 Cal.4th 208, 242 [25 Cal.Rptr.3d 224, 106 P.3d 895].)
(24) Similar to their other challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, defendants point to evidence that assertedly contradicts the finding that they entered Pontbriant's home with the intent to commit a felony and committed the murder while engaged in the commission of the burglary. (See § 459 [Every person who enters any house . . . with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary.].) As discussed above, however, we have concluded there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find that defendants robbed and attempted to rape Pontbriant. As the prosecution argued to the jury, it is reasonable to infer from the circumstance that defendants committed these crimes that they possessed the intent to do so at the time they entered Pontbriant's house. A rational juror reasonably could find that a purely social visit to a friend's house did not spontaneously lead to the attempted rape, robbery, and brutal murder of the hostess. The circumstance that Pontbriant may have willingly invited defendants into her house is of no consequence. ( Wallace, supra, 44 Cal.4th at p. 1060 [The crime of burglary, however, requires only an entry with the requisite intent; the entry need not be accomplished by force. (italics omitted)].) The circumstance that defendants apparently waited some period of time prior to attacking Pontbriant, during which the three of them consumed alcoholic beverages, could be viewed as an attempt to make defendants' task easier by reducing the possibility that Pontbriant would be able to resist. Further, Letner's participation in the telephone calls to Edward Burdette and Kathy Coronado could indicate he was not concerned whether they in turn eventually would inform the police he had been present in Pontbriant's house, because he believed either that the person with whom Pontbriant was speaking on the telephone when defendants first arrived knew that Letner was there, or that, if the police were to begin looking for him, he nonetheless would be able to escape to Iowa. Alternatively, the jury reasonably could find that Letner simply joined in the telephone calls in anger or on impulse, without reflecting upon the possible consequences. In sum, as we recently observed regarding a similar challenge, possession . . . of goods stolen from the victim's home shortly after the crimes is strong circumstantial evidence that [defendant] harbored the intent to commit larceny when he entered her home. [Citation.] Moreover, `[t]here is no better proof that [defendant] entered the [victim's house] with intent to commit robbery than a showing he did in fact commit robbery after his entry.' [Citation.] ( People v. Abilez (2007) 41 Cal.4th 472, 508 [61 Cal.Rptr.3d 526, 161 P.3d 58] ( Abilez ).) Accordingly, we conclude the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's finding that defendants committed a burglary and intentionally killed Pontbriant while engaged in the burglary.
Defendants also challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's first degree murder verdicts, to the extent these verdicts were based upon a theory of premeditated and deliberated murder. [22] `We need not consider this claim since reversal is not necessary when the court can determine from the record that the verdict rested on a theory which is supported by sufficient evidence. [Citation.]' [Citation.] We properly can, and do, make that determination here. ( Rundle, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 141.) As discussed, ante, the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that defendants entered Pontbriant's residence with the intent to commit a felony therein, robbed her and attempted to rape her, and that, pursuant to section 189, Pontbriant was murdered in the course of these crimes. The jury also found true the special circumstance allegations that defendants murdered Pontbriant while engaged in committing or attempting to commit each of the underlying felonies, which indicates the jury necessarily found the elements of first degree felony murder had been proved. Therefore, we need not decide whether, in addition, there was sufficient evidence to prove that Pontbriant's murder was the result of premeditation and deliberation. (43 Cal.4th at p. 141.) Defendants also contend that even if there was sufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation, their first degree murder convictions should be reversed because the jury may have relied upon the felony-murder theory of liability, which, they assert, was not supported by sufficient evidence. We have concluded, however, that felony-murder liability was established by sufficient evidence.
Tobin contends that as a matter of California law, there can be no special circumstance finding based upon a defendant's having killed the victim during an attempted rape. He asserts that such a killing cannot further the purpose of committing a rape, because it is legally impossible to rape a dead person. We recently rejected the identical claim in Rundle, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pages 155-156, and have no reason to revisit that conclusion.