Opinion ID: 1365990
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence to Support the Finding of First Degree Murder as to Hatcher.

Text: (4) Defendant claims that there was insufficient evidence as a matter of law to support the jury's finding of premeditation and deliberation as to the Hatcher murder, and that defendant's conviction of first degree murder on the Hatcher count must be reversed. [5] In People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15, 26-27 [73 Cal. Rptr. 550, 447 P.2d 942], we identified three categories of evidence which have been found sufficient to sustain a finding of premeditation and deliberation: (1) facts showing planning activity; (2) facts suggesting motive; and (3) facts about the manner of killing which suggest a preconceived design. Although the evidence was not particularly strong on any one of the Anderson factors, the record reveals at least some support in each of the categories. As to planning, the evidence shows that defendant armed himself and that he went in his pickup truck to the orchard. There it appears that he walked or ran into the orchard at a location about 200 feet from where Hatcher's body was found and that he proceeded toward that location in an irregular course roughly paralleling the road, evidence the prosecutor argued was supportive of an inference that defendant stalked Booher and Hatcher before attacking them. As to motive, there is no evidence of a prior relationship. The jury could reasonably infer, however, that defendant killed Hatcher either because Hatcher had witnessed the kidnap of Booher or because defendant intended to kidnap her and wished to eliminate Hatcher as a potential witness. Defendant argues that he could just as easily have kidnapped Booher in a panic following the unpremeditated killing of Hatcher; however, the jury was entitled to infer from the difficulty and risk inherent in kidnapping Booher, as opposed to simply shooting her at the scene, that his intent to take her alive was overriding and provided a motive for the killing. As to the manner of killing, a close-range gunshot to the face is arguably sufficiently particular and exacting to permit an inference that defendant was acting according to a preconceived design. (See People v. Cruz (1980) 26 Cal.3d 233, 245 [162 Cal. Rptr. 1, 605 P.2d 830].) Although the evidence was far from overwhelming, we need not be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant premeditated the [murder]. The relevant inquiry on appeal is whether ` any rational trier of fact' could have been so persuaded. ( People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 576 [162 Cal. Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738, 16 A.L.R.4th 1255], quoting from Jackson v. Virginia [1979] 443 U.S. 307, 318-319 [61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573, 99 S.Ct. 2781], italics original.) ( People v. Lucero (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1006, 1020 [245 Cal. Rptr. 185, 750 P.2d 1342].) The evidence in this case meets this test.