Opinion ID: 2517672
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Boyd's Alibi Was False

Text: Boyd had an alibi for the night of the murders: His wife, Arzetta Harvey, testified at the preliminary hearing that she had purchased some bedroom furniture from her friend, Sandra Harris Moss, and moved it to her apartment on May 20, 1981, the day before the victims were murdered. Harvey testified at the preliminary hearing that Boyd came home drunk that night and passed out on the new bed around 11:00 p.m. (Recall the victims were killed in the early morning hours on May 21, 1981.) Boyd himself testified that someone must have slipped him an intoxicating substance that night without his knowledge, resulting in his passing out. Petitioner alleges that, had trial counsel conducted a reasonable investigation, he would have discovered Boyd's alibi was false. Testimony at the evidentiary hearing supports this allegation: Sandra Harris Moss testified that on the day she sold her bedroom furniture to Harvey and helped her move it into her bedroom, she saw Boyd on the bed late that evening, but contrary to Harvey's preliminary hearing testimony, the night she saw Boyd on the bed could have been any night, and she did not know whether it was the night of the murders. Suspiciously, after the murders, Harvey put pressure on Moss nearly every day to say the night she saw Boyd on the bed was the night of the murders. Harvey, at that time Moss's good friend, had never pressured Moss about anything, but uncharacteristically brought up this subject every day like a ritual. Moss felt as though [Harvey] was pressuring me and brainwashing me to remember that the night that I sold her the bedroom set and the night that we moved the bedroom set was the night that [Boyd] was at home laying [on] the bed. Arzetta Harvey's son testified consistently with Moss's account, asserting that Boyd asked him to lie to the police and tell them that he (Boyd) was home the night of the murders. Harvey denied badgering Moss to give Boyd an alibi, but admitted at the evidentiary hearing that she did not know if she had bought the bedroom set around the time of the murders or not. Other evidence undermined Boyd's alibi as well. Although Boyd claimed he had passed out in his and Harvey's apartment the night of the murders, three witnesses reported seeing him in the common areas of the apartment complex that evening. Wesley Frank, a resident of the Vose Street apartments, testified that on the evening of May 20, 1981, he saw Boyd and Marcus at the Vose Street apartment complex around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., standing in a stairway and talking. Later, between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m., he heard Marcus start up his motorcycle and then heard Marcus and Boyd arguing. Boyd said: `I don't want to get on the back of the bike. I'll fall off.' Nevertheless, Frank saw the two men leave on the motorcycle with Boyd on the back. They were dressed in dark clothing and appeared sober. In addition, Rickey Ginsburg testified he saw Boyd and Marcus in the late evening that same night, between two buildings of the apartment complex. They asked to borrow his car but Ginsburg declined, instead loaning them some money. Finally, Colette Mitchell, petitioner's then girlfriend, told police she was in Reilly's Vose Street apartment that critical night and saw Boyd walk by Reilly's apartment window around 11:00 p.m. The referee concluded the evidence presented at the hearing undermined Boyd's purported alibi for the night of the killings and supported petitioner's contention that Boyd was the killer. Critically, the referee specifically found Boyd's testimony that he did not leave the Vose Street apartments with Marcus on the night of the murders was false and that Arzetta Harvey's testimony about Boyd's alibi was unworthy of belief. Respondent denies the allegation that Boyd's alibi was false, relying on Boyd's denial and Harvey's testimony. The referee specifically disbelieved Boyd and Harvey, however, making a credibility determination that is entitled to this court's deference. Respondent takes exception to a number of the referee's findings. First, he argues the referee's findings are incomplete because they fail to note the contrary evidence, to wit, that Sandra Harris Moss initially told police she had seen Boyd passed out on the bed the night of the murders. The referee was undoubtedly aware of Moss's earlier position when he weighed her past representation to police with her contrary testimony at the reference hearing. The referee's conclusion that Moss was truthful at the hearing, and that Boyd and Harvey were not credible, is the type of credibility determination that is entitled to our deference. Accordingly, we overrule this exception. Second, respondent argues any reliance on Colette Mitchell's transcribed interview with the police is improper because it was inadmissible, both because it was hearsay and because it was polygraph-related, being an interview conducted in connection with a polygraph test. The transcript of this interview was admitted without objection at the hearing but, inasmuch as the referee's conclusion regarding Boyd's false alibi is sufficiently supported by Ginsburg's and Frank's testimony in any event, we assign Colette's interview transcript no weight. Respondent's third exception challenges Sandra Harris Moss's testimony concerning Harvey's attempt to pressure her on the ground that Moss's testimony was not uncontradicted. The argument is meritless. Although the point was contested and our July 20, 1994, order asked the referee to determine why Demby failed to present the uncontradicted evidence of other available witnesses who would have provided mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of the trial (italics added), the referee was also directed by our order to take evidence and determine whether Demby's tactical decision not to present this evidence was supportable. The relative strength of the evidence of third party culpability was relevant to determining whether Demby's decision not to present it was supportable. We thus overrule this exception. Fourth, respondent takes exception to the referee's conclusion that Sandra Harris Moss told her then boyfriend, James Moss, that Harvey was putting pressure on her to support Boyd's alibi. Respondent claims no evidence supports this conclusion because James Moss's testimony to that effect was not admitted for its truth. Although respondent is correct that James Moss's testimony on this point was not offered for its truth, he is mistaken that no other evidence supports the referee's conclusion. Sandra Harris Moss herself testified that she told James Moss that Boyd and Harvey were trying to brainwash her into believing the day she saw Boyd passed out was the night of the murders. We thus overrule this exception. Fifth, respondent takes exception to the referee's conclusion that Harvey's son falsely gave police petitioner's name at Boyd's urging because he was afraid of Boyd. Although respondent contends the evidence supporting this conclusion is ambiguous, the record strongly supports the referee's finding. For example, Harvey's son affirmed that Boyd approached both him and his mother and told them they should tell a certain story to police. Regarding the fact he told police he had heard petitioner was the killer, Harvey's son admitted: That is what I was told by Calvin to say. Ample evidence also supports the notion that Harvey's son feared Boyd. He testified he believed Boyd was a violent person, based on Boyd's violent abuse of his mother, Arzetta Harvey, his slapping, hitting, verbally yelling and just constantly coming home drunk, taking it out on me and my mother. He also related an incident in which Boyd had threatened them with a knife. Given this evidence, the referee was well within his discretion to conclude that Harvey's son was afraid of Boyd. Respondent also takes exception to the referee's findings regarding Harvey's son on the ground that his credibility was compromised because he had sustained two felony convictions and because he did not come forward earlier with his evidence. We have no doubt the referee considered these factors when assessing the witness's credibility. As the referee's conclusion on this point is supported by substantial evidence, it is the type of credibility determination that is entitled to deference. ( In re Thomas, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 1256, 39 Cal.Rptr.3d 845, 129 P.3d 49.) We thus overrule respondent's exceptions regarding Harvey's son's testimony. Sixth, respondent takes exception to the referee's finding that the evidence undermines Boyd's alibi, arguing that other evidence supports the alibi. This is a factual determination well within the referee's discretion to make. Accordingly, we overrule the exception. Seventh, respondent takes exception to the referee's finding that the evidence undermines Boyd's alibi, arguing that Harvey's son's testimony that Boyd had coerced him to support the alibi was hearsay evidence of Boyd's bad character, inadmissible under Evidence Code sections 1101-1103. Although respondent objected to Harvey's son's testimony that Boyd had a reputation for violence, respondent did not raise a hearsay objection to his testimony that Boyd had coerced him to support Boyd's alibi. Accordingly, respondent failed to preserve the hearsay objection for this court's consideration. In any event, Sandra Harris Moss's testimony amply supports the referee's conclusion that Boyd's alibi was false. We thus overrule the exception. As substantial evidence (i.e., the testimony of Wesley Frank, Rickey Ginsburg, Sandra Harris Moss, James Moss and Harvey's son) supports the referee's findings that evidence presented at the hearing undermined Boyd's purported alibi for the night of the killings and supported petitioner's contention that Boyd was the killer, and that Boyd's testimony that he did not leave the Vose Street apartments with Marcus on the night of the murders was false, we adopt those findings.