PEOPLE v. RAMIREZ

Filed 8/7/06

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, )

)

Plaintiff and Respondent, )

) S012944

v. )

) Los Angeles County

RICHARD RAMIREZ, ) Super. Ct. No. A771272

)

Defendant and Appellant. )

_______________________________________ )

Story continue from Part I ………

A blood sample recovered from the house in which Mary Cannon was murdered differed from defendant's blood type.

Defendant introduced photographs of the residences of Joyce Nelson and Christopher and Virginia Petersen.

Police showed Sophie D. the same photographic lineup not including defendant's photograph that had been shown to Maria Hernandez, and Sophie D. picked out the same person who, as noted above, was apprehended, questioned and released.

A criminalist examined hairs recovered from the home of Maxon and Lela Kneiding and testified that they were dissimilar to defendant's hair.

A criminalist testified that it was uncertain whether semen collected from Sakina A. could be matched to defendant.

Deputy Public Defender Allen Adashek, who was appointed to represent defendant soon after his arrest, testified regarding the circumstances of the lineup in which defendant was identified by several of the victims. Deputy Public Defender Judith Crawford was present at the lineup as an observer for defendant. Just prior to the lineup, Crawford saw a police officer who was conversing with some children raise his index and middle fingers. When the lineup formed, defendant was the second person in line. Crawford later saw another officer make a similar gesture, raising two fingers. A still photograph taken from a videotape of the lineup showed a police officer raising two fingers.

Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, an expert in eyewitness identifications, testified that memory degrades over time, that witnesses who are assaulted with weapons focus upon the weapon rather than the features of the assailant, and that members of one race have difficulty identifying members of other races.

Sandra Hotchkiss testified for the defense and acknowledged that she was incarcerated at the California Institution for Women serving a term for burglary. She had committed numerous burglaries with defendant and had seen him sell jewelry to Felipe Solano. Defendant was an amateur burglar. She never saw defendant with a gun and never saw him act violently, even when provoked.

Penalty Phase

On September 20, 1989, after the court accepted the jury's guilty verdicts, the prosecution indicated that it did not intend to present any further evidence at the penalty phase, but reserved the right to call rebuttal witnesses. The court granted defendant a one-week continuance to present his case.

On September 27, 1989, defense counsel announced that the defense had made a â€