P v. CHATMAN
Filed 5/8/06
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA
)
v. )
Defendant and Appellant. ) Super. Ct. No. 143749
__________ )
A jury convicted Erik Sanford Chatman of first degree murder under the special circumstance of torture murder and with use of a knife.[1] The jury acquitted him of robbery and rejected a related robbery-murder special-circumstance allegation.[2] It did find defendant guilty of the lesser offense of grand theft. After the jury returned a death verdict, the court denied defendant's motion to modify the verdict[3] and imposed sentence. In this automatic appeal, we affirm the judgment.[4]
I. Facts
A. Guilt Phase
1. Overview
On October 7, 1987, defendant stabbed Rosellina Lo Bue to death at a Photo Drive-Up store in San Jose. He stabbed Lo Bue 51 times and took cash from the store. The only eyewitness was defendant's son, Mario, then two and a half years old.
These facts are undisputed. Contested at trial was what specific crimes defendant had committed. While the prosecution alleged first degree murder, robbery, and attendant special circumstances, defendant contended he was guilty only of manslaughter or second degree murder and innocent of robbery.
2. Prosecution Evidence
Lo Bue worked at the store along with defendant's wife, Yvonne Chatman.[5] Yvonne usually worked from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., while Lo Bue worked from 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. On the day of the killing, Yvonne opened the store but falsely told her supervisor that she had to leave because her husband and son had been in an automobile accident. Yvonne returned home, and Lo Bue was called to take her place. Yvonne testified that around 3:00 p.m., defendant left their apartment with their son, Mario. Defendant said they were going to the park, but instead took the boy to the store. Independent witnesses saw defendant there with Lo Bue until the 6:00 p.m. closing time. Lo Bue did not appear to be afraid of defendant.
Mario was seven years old at the time of trial, and testified he saw his father stab the victim. Mario remembered that the knife came from a yellow box, but did not recall when he first saw it. Defendant was the only person Mario saw handle the knife. After the stabbing, defendant ran home with Mario. Mario could not remember whether defendant carried him. At home, both defendant and Mario took a shower. Mario said he thought he took the shower because Mario had blood on his hands.
Around 7:15 p.m., passerby Curtis Jones saw the store apparently unattended with the door ajar. On closer inspection, Jones saw Lo Bue's body and called the police.
The crime scene was in disarray, the walls spattered in blood. Most of the blood was less than three feet from the floor, indicating the victim had been stabbed while crouching or reclining. Carpeting behind the main counter was soaked with blood. The cash drawer lay empty on the counter. There was no blood on the cash register. A safe under the side counter was open. An envelope unmarked by blood and containing over $100 in cash, along with checks and deposit slips, remained in the safe. According to a notation on the envelope, it contained the store proceeds from October 6, minus $150. October 7 proceeds were missing. It appeared the safe had been opened after the stabbing, because the door was spattered with blood but the interior was not. The victim's purse was found under the counter. It was covered in blood but still contained a wallet with about $27 in cash. An envelope containing less than $2 was recovered from one of the countertops. A telephone receiver had been torn from the wall. Defendant's fingerprint was found on a photocopy machine.
The store video surveillance camera was inoperable on the day of the stabbing. Yvonne knew the camera did not work. She may have told defendant this, but she could not recall.
Yvonne heard defendant come home that evening. Shortly thereafter she saw her husband and son standing in bloody water in the tub. Defendant was flustered and had scratches on his chest. Something he said caused her to go to the store, where she saw paramedics removing Lo Bue's body. When she returned home, defendant was excited. She saw cash and checks in a moneybag like one used at the photo shop. Defendant's finger was badly cut. He told Yvonne's mother, Mary Irving, that he had gotten cut while either fighting or robbing someone. Later the same evening, at defendant's insistence, defendant, Yvonne, Mario, and Irving went to East Palo Alto, where they purchased crack cocaine, using money defendant had taken from the store. The three adults smoked the drugs in a motel room.
The next day, when police came to the apartment, Yvonne spoke to them while defendant hid in the bathroom. Yvonne reported that she had not been to work because her â€
