Opinion ID: 2607459
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence Premeditation

Text: (24a) Defendant contends there was insufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation to support the first degree murder verdict as to each victim. (25) Defendant relies on People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15, 26-27 [73 Cal. Rptr. 550, 447 P.2d 942], which identified three categories of evidence typically used to resolve this issue: planning activity, motive, and manner of killing. Contrary to defendant's suggestion, Anderson does not require that these factors be present in some special combination or that they be accorded a particular weight, nor is the list exhaustive. Anderson was simply intended to guide an appellate court's assessment whether the evidence supports an inference that the killing occurred as the result of preexisting reflection rather than unconsidered or rash impulse. ( People v. Perez (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1117, 1125 [9 Cal. Rptr.2d 577, 831 P.2d 1159].) Of course, the appellate court does not substitute its judgment for that of the jury but affirms the verdict if a rational trier of fact could find premeditation and deliberation beyond a reasonable doubt. ( Perez, supra, at p. 1124.) (24b) A violent and bloody death sustained as a result of multiple stab wounds can be consistent with a finding of premeditation. (See, e.g., Perez, supra . ) Here, there was sufficient evidence from which the jury could infer that defendant premeditated Kimele's death. At least two plausible motives for the slaying appear. One inference is that defendant acted on his apparent threat to harm the person who had complained about his work  a person defendant knew was likely to be Kimele. The jury could also conclude defendant killed Kimele to silence her as a possible witness to her own sexual assault. As previously explained, the position of Kimele's nearly nude body and the presence of a Black pubic hair on a semen-stained portion of carpet underneath her body suggested that she had been killed during the course of a rape or attempted rape. Defendant may also have at least briefly planned the fatal confrontation with Kimele in the conference room. Three Progressive employees testified that they saw defendant cleaning inside the building on Labor Day and that they left by 12:45 p.m. Defendant remembered seeing at least one of them that morning, and believed he and Kimele were the only people remaining inside the building after ABM manager Leppington left at 1:30 p.m. The jury could infer that defendant waited until he thought everyone else was gone and then followed or forced Kimele into the conference room  the most secluded part of the building. The manner of killing also evidences reflection. The prosecution established that Kimele was stabbed 18 times; that all but 1 of the wounds were located in her torso; and that no defensive knife wounds were found. The location of bloodstains, semen and the Black pubic hair suggests the fatal attack occurred on the conference room floor, where the body was found. The jury could infer defendant pinned Kimele down or otherwise rendered her helpless before the stabbing began. Under the circumstances, a rational trier of fact could conclude defendant premeditated and deliberated Kimele's death. We reach the same conclusion about Catherine. The record discloses at least two plausible motives for her murder. As noted, she apparently arrived on the scene after 1:45 p.m. and surprised defendant while he was committing, or cleaning up after, the crimes against Kimele. Catherine was ultimately found naked from the waist down, with her legs spread apart. Semen in her vagina was evidently deposited near the time of death. The jury could infer Catherine was killed to silence her as a possible witness to the sexual assault upon herself and/or to the crimes against Kimele. Catherine's injuries also evidence reflection. Over 40 of the 69 stab wounds were located on her chest and back. They were clustered  in some cases symmetrically  on the left side, near the heart. Based on the number and placement of the wounds and the apparent fact that Catherine was the second victim, the jury could infer her death was calculated and was not the product of an unconsidered explosion of violence. We reject defendant's sufficiency of evidence claim.