Opinion ID: 2624500
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Criminal Acts Involving Force or Violence or Threats of Force or Violence

Text: Beverly Manning met defendant in Shreveport, Louisiana, when she was a teenager. On two occasions, when Manning refused to go somewhere with defendant, defendant threatened her with a weapon; in Louisiana he pulled a gun on her, and in California he held a knife to her throat.
On November 7, 1976, defendant and Beverly Manning assaulted 55-year-old Ruth Story of Linda Vista while she was walking home from the grocery store. Defendant hit Story in the face with his fist, knocked her to the ground, tore away the purse Story had attached to her cane and wrist, pulled Story on her stomach to the curb, and ran away. Story suffered a broken cheekbone, required plastic surgery to correct injuries to her jaw, and stayed in the hospital for a week.
In the fall of 1976, defendant, in the company of Beverly Manning and Jerre Brown, stole a television set from a hotel at a truckstop in Louisiana and sold it to Jerre Brown's mother for $90. Defendant stood trial for the burglary in March 1977, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Kenneth Dotson, Jerre Brown's brother, testified for the prosecution. During the pendency of the trial, while in a secured area of the jail, defendant jumped on and hit Kenneth Dotson, who fell against his attorney, Frank Auer, knocking both to the ground. Defendant continued to hit Dotson four or five more times until stopped by sheriff's deputies.
In December 1976, defendant, Jerre Brown, and Beverly Manning were in jail in Shreveport, Louisiana, under arrest for the burglary of the truckstop hotel. Defendant asked Brown and Manning, who were both juveniles at the time of the burglary, to take full responsibility for the burglary in order to exonerate him. Brown instead told the truth about the burglary and gave testimony unfavorable to defendant. While in a holding cell with 40 other inmates awaiting transportation to the courthouse from the jail, defendant attempted to stab Brown in the head with a pen, requiring the guards to spray Mace on both of them. Later, at the courthouse, defendant hit Brown in the face with his fist, knocking him against the wall.
In early 1979, defendant was dating Rosie Blackmon, who drove a taxi and was going to truck driving school. They spent a night in a motel and when Blackmon tried to leave the following morning to go to school, defendant told her she could not leave and punched her in the head five or six times. Later, when she tried to end the relationship, he stalked her and eventually assaulted her on the street, knocked her to the pavement and kicked her in the head.
On July 6, 1979, defendant wrote a letter to Theresa Roch from the San Diego County Jail in which he threatened to take out his trial counsel, the two prosecutors, the prosecution's criminalist and their families if he were to be convicted. [6]
On September 17, 1980, defendant assaulted Thomas Ryan, the attorney who represented him in the first trial, in the San Diego County Jail. Defendant had asked Ryan to visit him in the jail that evening. When Ryan arrived at the visiting room at 6:30 or 7:00 p.m., he sat down on a small stool and waited for defendant. Defendant entered the room, approached Ryan and began to hand him a set of papers. Before he could take the papers, defendant struck him in the jaw with what Ryan described as a very hard blow, a sucker punch, which knocked Ryan to the floor. Defendant said nothing. Before Ryan could get up, defendant turned and left the room. Ryan testified that during the 20 years in which he practiced criminal defense and represented 500 or more clients, 25 or 30 of whom were accused of murder, none had ever punched him in the face.
On a Sunday morning in September 1980, defendant assaulted Patricia Robinson, a paralegal hired to assist Ryan in the pending capital trial. Robinson had visited defendant numerous times to help prepare for trial and met with him in the attorney visiting room. At the end of the visit that morning, as Robinson got up to leave, defendant grabbed her and said, No, no. Stay longer. She again tried to leave and defendant blocked her exit. He grew agitated and said, Well, I could rape you. She kicked the arch of his foot and punched him, but he did not respond. She started yelling for help from the guards and tried to pull aside the privacy curtain that was covering the window in the door. Defendant slammed her against the window and put his hands around her neck and mouth, and Robinson started to lose consciousness. Defendant had control of her arms and legs, but she managed to bite his finger. Defendant released her and said, You bit me, I'm bleeding. Robinson managed to leave the room, and thereafter had bruises on her arm, legs and throat. She testified she thought she would die that day.
On October 8, 1980, defendant assaulted San Diego County Sheriff's Deputies William Hanson and Johnnie Christiansen in his cell at the San Diego County Jail. Defendant refused to get out of bed to come to court. When one of the deputies pulled off defendant's blanket, defendant leaped up, backed into the corner and assumed a fighting stance with his arms and fists raised. He told the deputies, If you want . . . me to go to court you're going to have to take me to court. The deputies grabbed defendant, forced him out of the cell and up against a wall, and placed waist and leg chains on him. Defendant resisted and struggled before the officers gained control. As the deputies led defendant down the hall, he continued to resist and spat on Hanson's face.