RICHARD LACY LETNER and
CHRISTOPHER ALLAN TOBIN
Filed 7/29/10
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
THE PEOPLE, )
)
Plaintiff
and Respondent, )
) S015384
v. )
)
RICHARD LACY LETNER and )
CHRISTOPHER
ALLAN TOBIN, )
) Tulare
County
Defendants
and Appellants. ) Super.
Ct. No. 26592
__________________________________ )
Defendants
Richard Lacy Letner and Christopher Allan Tobin were convicted of first degree murder (Pen. Code,
§ 187),[1]
burglary (§ 459), robbery (§§ 211, 212.5), attempted
rape (§§ 664, 261, subd. (2)), and theft of an automobile (Veh. Code,
§ 10851, subd. (a)), arising from the murder of Ivon Pontbriant in her
home in Visalia, California
on March 1, 1988. As to each defendant, the jury found true
three special circumstance allegations -- that the murder was committed in
the course of the burglary, attempted rape, and robbery (§ 190.2, subd.
(a)(17)(A), (C), (G)) -- and returned a verdict of death. The trial court, having denied defendants'
motions for new trial and the automatic applications to modify the verdicts (§ 190.4,
subd. (e)), sentenced defendants to death and to consecutive prison terms of
six years eight months for the noncapital offenses. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment as to each defendant
in its entirety.
I. Facts
A. Guilt Phase
1. Prosecution Evidence
Ivon Pontbriant, then 59 years of
age, lived with Walter Gilliland, with whom she was romantically involved, in a
residence located at 804 North Jacob Street
in Visalia in Tulare
County. On Wednesday,
March 2, 1988, Ted and Ida Blevins, Pontbriant's parents, became
concerned because Ivon had not telephoned them as she had planned. That evening, the Blevins contacted
Pontbriant's cousin, Jack Cantrell, and with him went to the house on North
Jacob Street.
After they knocked on the door without receiving any response, Cantrell
looked through a window and saw Pontbriant sprawled on the floor of the living
room.
When the police arrived, they found
Pontbriant's body lying facedown in a pool of blood on the floor between a
couch and a coffee table. She was
unclothed except for her socks and a brassiere that was pulled down to her
waist. Her hands were tied behind her
back with a telephone cord that also was looped around her neck. The cord was tied tightly enough to have made
ligature marks upon her neck and wrists.
A large, deep cut on the back of her neck had severed her spinal cord
and lacerated several blood vessels including the right carotid artery,
causing her death. Death from the
severed spinal cord could have been essentially instantaneous; she would have
bled to death within minutes. Pontbriant
also had suffered three stab wounds to her neck -- two on the left and one
on the right -- that narrowly missed her blood vessels, and three
superficial lacerations on the right side of the neck. Had these other wounds severed Pontbriant's
carotid arteries, she would have lost consciousness almost immediately, and
would have died within minutes.
Pontbriant's face had sustained severe blunt force trauma, as though she
repeatedly had been kicked or punched in the face while alive, and there were
defensive wounds on her arms. Portions
of her hair had been ripped out of her head.
A Heineken beer bottle, which had fecal matter on it, was wedged between
Pontbriant's buttocks, near her genitals.
A pile of clothing found in the living room included a pair of pants and
underwear that also had fecal matter on them, and a sweater that appeared to
have been cut or ripped open. There was
no blood on the clothing. Several hairs
were found on Pontbriant's chest.
An ashtray on the coffee table
contained several Marlboro and Camel cigarette butts and a Lowenbrau beer
bottle cap. The top of the coffee table
had a cut that could have been made by stabbing a knife into it. Nearby was a photograph of Pontbriant with a
hole in it that matched the cut in the table.
Two of Pontbriant's purses were on the floor; the entire contents of one
purse had been dumped on the floor, and the contents of the other purse, which
contained Pontbriant's checkbook, had been only partially removed. The checkbook did not contain any money, but
more than $18 in bills and change were found at the bottom of the purse. The kitchen area appeared to have been wiped
down, and in the bathroom was a washrag that appeared to have had blood on it
and had been rinsed. A distinctive wine
bottle opener of a type sold at a local liquor store was on the kitchen
counter. Gilliland testified that he
never had seen the bottle opener in the house.
In the bedroom, which was in disarray, the police found a blue baseball
cap, blood smears on a pillow on the bed and on a doily on the dresser, and
semen stains on the carpet. Pontbriant's
automobile, a red and white Ford Fairmont, was missing. A quilt that Pontbriant used to cover the
front seat of her car was found on a bush near the location where the
passenger's side door would be when the car was parked in the driveway. Gilliland testified that Pontbriant was very
protective of her car; very rarely would she allow anyone else to drive it.
Gilliland testified that three days
earlier, on the morning of Sunday,
February 28, 1988, defendants drove to the Jacob
Street residence in a car they said belonged to
Tobin's girlfriend. For somewhat more
than a month prior to that Sunday, Letner had worked for Gilliland two or three
days a week helping him repair appliances in the garage behind the house. Gilliland and Pontbriant had befriended
Letner; Pontbriant told people that he reminded her of her son. On that Sunday morning, defendants gave
Pontbriant and Gilliland a bottle of Kahlua liqueur and a couple of cartons of
Marlboro cigarettes. Defendants went
inside the house and had coffee with Pontbriant and Gilliland. In defendants' presence, Gilliland mentioned
that he was planning to go to Modesto
to visit his family. Pontbriant reminded
him that the rent was due soon, and Gilliland gave her approximately $340 in
cash. She placed the cash in her
checkbook and put the checkbook inside her purse. Defendants left after approximately one hour.
Letner and Tobin were longstanding,
very close friends. They had known each
other for several years while attending high school in the City of Napa,
California. Sometime during 1984, Tobin
moved to Visalia, where he met and
became romantically involved with Jeanette Mayberry. Tobin and Mayberry lived in a residence at 248
South Crenshaw Street, which they shared with
Darlene Jolly and Mike Kinnett. Letner
also stayed at the house for approximately one month. Sometime during 1986, Tobin and Mayberry
moved to an apartment at 301 East Murray Street,
and Letner later joined them. After
relocating to a different apartment in the building on Murray
Street, in March of 1987 the three moved to an
apartment on Stevenson Street. Mayberry was pregnant with Tobin's child and
gave birth in May of that year. Soon
after the baby was born, Letner moved back to the Murray
Street apartment.
A couple of months later, Tobin also moved back to Murray
Street, while Mayberry moved to an apartment at 720
North Bridge Street. Mayberry testified that she and Tobin
separated because of Letner's interference with their relationship. Tobin and Mayberry continued to see each
other, however, and in December 1987, Tobin moved to the Bridge
Street apartment.
In May 1987, Tobin had begun working
for a company that manufactured prefabricated buildings. Letner started working for the same company
in June. Defendants were laid off near
the beginning of 1988, however, and had no steady employment after that time. Defendants, who did not own a car,
occasionally borrowed Mayberry's car to get around. On Sunday,
February 28, 1988, Mayberry lent defendants her vehicle to attend a
local swap meet in order to attempt to sell various items. When Letner returned the car that afternoon,
he told Mayberry that Tobin was meeting with Tobin's ex-wife at a nearby
park. Mayberry was angered by this
report, and twice confronted Tobin and his ex-wife that day. At one point Mayberry angrily threw away the
engagement ring Tobin had given her.
On the next day, Monday, February 29, 1988, Mayberry returned to
her apartment and discovered that the bedroom window was broken. She suspected that Tobin had broken the
window in order to enter the apartment, because she had removed his house key
from his key ring after their quarrels on the previous day. Within a few moments, Tobin (who was
intoxicated) and Letner arrived at the apartment. Tobin and Mayberry began to argue, and Tobin
struck her and pulled out some of her hair.
Letner yelled insults at Mayberry and encouraged Tobin to continue to
strike her. After Mayberry managed to
get away from Tobin, she ran to an upstairs apartment. The neighbors admitted her and called the
police. When the neighbors informed
defendants that the police had been summoned, Tobin broke the living room
windows of Mayberry's apartment, retrieved his shotgun, and used it to break
the windows of her car in the parking lot.
He then reentered the apartment, obtained his ornamental sword, and
departed with Letner. Tobin returned to
the apartment the next day to search for his driver's license and to apologize
to Mayberry. Mayberry did not accept
Tobin's apology and left. Mayberry
returned to the apartment the following day, Tuesday, after the windows had
been repaired. Tobin's personal
belongings were still there. Mayberry
believed Tobin would return and they would reconcile; he had not mentioned
anything regarding moving away.
Meanwhile, also on Sunday, February
28, Gilliland and Pontbriant had a disagreement, and Gilliland decided to leave
for Modesto. He arranged to meet his son at a motel, so
that his son could drive him to Modesto. Gilliland's son picked him up early the next
morning, and they drove to the residence on Jacob
Street.
Gilliland testified that he retrieved several items, including a toolbox
and a puppy, and that Pontbriant was asleep while he was at the house. Gilliland's son drove with Gilliland to Modesto
and dropped him off at his ex-wife's house.
Marilyn Reid testified that on
Sunday evening, Gilliland appeared with a suitcase at the Break Room Bar in Visalia. Letner, who already was there, talked and
drank beer with Gilliland; later, they departed at the same time.
On Tuesday March 1, 1988, Pontbriant drove her friend Flourene
Gentry to shop for groceries, as she always did on the first of the month. Later that evening, Pontbriant telephoned
Gentry three times, telling her that she (Pontbriant) was concerned because
Gilliland had not returned, and a person who had purchased a stove from
Gilliland had come by the residence to complain. Gentry testified that during the third
telephone call, at approximately 9:30 p.m.,
Pontbriant told her that two individuals, one of whom reminded her of her son,
had just arrived and were entering her house, and everything would be all
right. Pontbriant also mentioned that
she was â€
| Description | Defendants Richard Lacy Letner and Christopher Allan Tobin were convicted of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187),[1] burglary (§ 459), robbery (§§ 211, 212.5), attempted rape (§§ 664, 261, subd. (2)), and theft of an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)), arising from the murder of Ivon Pontbriant in her home in Visalia, California on March 1, 1988. As to each defendant, the jury found true three special circumstance allegations -- that the murder was committed in the course of the burglary, attempted rape, and robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A), (C), (G)) -- and returned a verdict of death. The trial court, having denied defendants' motions for new trial and the automatic applications to modify the verdicts (§ 190.4, subd. (e)), sentenced defendants to death and to consecutive prison terms of six years eight months for the noncapital offenses. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment as to each defendant in its entirety. |
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