Opinion ID: 2614001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant's escape from jail

Text: On May 11, 1987, defendant was an inmate in the Butte County jail at Oroville, awaiting trial on the above described offenses. That afternoon defendant could not be located at the jail. It was discovered that the wire mesh screen over a jail window had been forced open, the window had been broken, and an orange jumpsuit was hanging from the jail window. At approximately 2 p.m. on that day, Douglas Kronen, who lived one-half mile from the Butte County jail, entered his residence. Kronen heard a noise and discovered defendant, whose arms were cut and bleeding, pointing a gun at him. Defendant told Kronen, Don't do nothing stupid. I don't want to hurt you, ordered him to lie down on the floor, and threw a blanket over his head. Defendant placed a foot, knee, or hand on Kronen's back and informed him that defendant was going to have to tie him up. Defendant had removed and torn into pieces a pillowcase that had been in one of Kronen's children's bedrooms. Defendant grabbed a knife, placed his foot on Kronen's back, and said, I can't drive. Fearing for his safety and that of his children, who were due to return from school, Kronen offered to drive defendant wherever he wanted to go. The two men drove away in a truck, once stopping to purchase gasoline. When Kronen reentered the truck, defendant instructed him to head for Chico, and Kronen complied, until they noticed several police vehicles on the highway, at which point defendant moved down in his seat and instructed Kronen to head for Sacramento. On the way, defendant volunteered to Kronen that defendant had not committed the killings. When Kronen suggested that defendant return to jail if he was innocent, defendant responded he would rather be dead than in jail, and that he did not feel he would receive a fair trial because he was African-American. Defendant said he did not know how his sheets happened to be at the residence of the persons who were killed. When they reached Sacramento, defendant told Kronen to let him out of the truck. Kronen did so and contacted the police. Later that day, after a brief chase on foot, the police apprehended defendant, who was carrying a water pistol at the time. The trial court admitted evidence of two subsequent escape attempts by defendant, solely on the issue of flight as evidence of consciousness of guilt. (§ 1127c.) On September 26, 1988, defendant, still an inmate at Butte County jail, pulled Jim Corbin, a guard, into defendant's section, grabbed him around the chest and throat, and slammed him against the cell bars. Corbin was able to say, jail break, and two officers came to his rescue. A gun made of soap, a shank, a hacksaw blade, and three stuffed jumpsuits were discovered inside defendant's cellblock, and the bars on one cell door in that block had been sawed. After defendant's transfer to Placer County jail following a change of venue to that county on defendant's motion, on March 9, 1989, it was discovered that defendant had cut through the plaster in the ceiling of one of the jail cells, patching the hole with tape and toothpaste. Defendant, stating he wished to get through the ceiling in order to escape from the jail, had instructed another inmate how to grind through the brick. Defendant had attempted to make a hole in a wall, using as a tool a vent he had removed.