Opinion ID: 1162168
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: FACTS OF Saling

Text: In Saling the defendant had been hired by Murphy (see People v. Murphy (1972) 8 Cal.3d 349 [105 Cal. Rptr. 138, 503 P.2d 594]) to assist in the murder of Murphy's wife. The principal witness against Saling was Jerry Carnes. Carnes testified that he had been approached by Murphy with an offer of money if he would rough up a recalcitrant debtor of Murphy. Carnes did not accept the offer but agreed to try and find someone who would accommodate Murphy. Carnes accordingly broached the offer to Saling, and subsequently took Saling to Murphy's house to introduce the two men. The pair discussed the job in the presence of Carnes. They agreed to a fee of $1,000, with $300 or $500 to be paid in advance. [8] In a later conversation with Murphy, Carnes learned that the planned battery would involve staging a hit and run accident while the victim was helping Murphy change a flat tire. Carnes was to participate in the scheme as a false witness. On the day of the murder Carnes, Saling and Murphy had jointly reconnoitered the scene of the planned accident. That night Carnes parked his car in the arranged location. He saw Murphy drive past, accompanied by a female. Carnes waited another 45 minutes for Saling to appear. During this period Murphy and the woman drove past several times in both directions. Upset by his realization that the victim was to be a woman, Carnes finally decided to abandon the enterprise. After traveling some distance he encountered Saling driving towards the scene of the crime accompanied by Jurgenson, whose car Saling was driving. Saling disclosed that his delay in arriving had been caused by his being stopped by a policeman. Carnes then drove back to the spot where he had been waiting, followed by Saling. Murphy was no longer in the vicinity. Saling said he would find Murphy later, and Carnes left the area. Three days later Carnes learned from a friend that Murphy's wife had been murdered on the night of the supposed battery of a debtor. Carnes thereupon went to Saling's home, where he encountered Jurgenson. Carnes sought an explanation for the murder of Murphy's wife. Jurgenson replied that the true nature of the job had been discussed in Carnes' absence. Jurgenson went on, at Carnes' urging, to describe the details of the murder, and over objection Carnes was allowed to repeat this narrative at Saling's trial. A fortnight or so after Jurgenson's narration, Jerry Carnes' brother Richard was used by Murphy as an intermediary to transmit $200 in cash to Jerry Carnes and $500 in cash to Saling. Shortly after this, through the assistance of the Carnes brothers, the police obtained tape recordings of conversations between Murphy and the Carnes brothers, each of which contained statements highly incriminating of Saling.