P. v. Robinson
Filed 1/10/07 P. v. Robinson CA2/7
Opinion following second remand
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION SEVEN
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DEREK EDWARD ROBINSON, Defendant and Appellant. | B149425 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. GA 036768) |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Robert J. Perry, Judge. Affirmed.[1]
Ralph H. Goldson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Susan D. Martynec and Susan Lee Frierson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
______________________________
Derek Edward Robinson (defendant) was convicted by a jury of the murders of Michael Boyd (count 1) and Anthony Wells (count 2). (Pen. Code, § 187.) The jury found true the special circumstance allegations that defendant committed multiple murders (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) and that the victim in count 2 was intentionally killed because he was a witness to a crime. (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd. (a)(10).) The jury also found defendant guilty of attempted murder of Howard Littleton (count 3) and found the attempted murder was committed willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation. (Pen. Code, § 664, subd. (a).) On all counts, the jury found defendant personally used a firearm. (Pen. Code, § 12022.5, subd. (a)(1).)
In the penalty phase, the jury returned a verdict of death. At the sentencing hearing the penalty was modified, without objection by the People.[2] As to counts 1 and 2, the court sentenced the defendant to life without the possibility of parole plus an additional five years for the use of a gun in the commission of the offenses. As to count 3 defendant was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole plus an additional five years for the use of a gun. All sentences were to run consecutively to one another.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
A. Introduction.
Defendant was convicted of killing Michael Boyd (Boyd) and Anthony Wells (Wells), who were both friends of defendant and members of defendant's gang, the Denver Lane Bloods. The prosecution's theory of the case was that defendant shot Boyd over a gun that Boyd was allegedly keeping for defendant while defendant was in jail,[3] and defendant shot Wells because he knew too much about the Boyd murder. Aside from ballistic evidence at the scenes of the crimes, most of the evidence of defendant's guilt was hearsay testimony from friends and acquaintances of defendant. Such testimony came in at trial as prior inconsistent statements made in interviews conducted by the police, as the witnesses at trial uniformly denied their prior statements implicating defendant. (See Evid. Code, § 1235;[4] California v. Green (1970) 399 U.S. 149.)
B. Prosecution Evidence.
1. Killing of Michael Boyd, May 30, 1994.
(a) The Shooting.
Boyd was shot late in the evening on May 30, 1994, outside an apartment building at 830 North El Molino Avenue in Pasadena. Mia Boyd, Michael Boyd's sister, resided with her mother and her children in an apartment at 830 North El Molino, and Boyd stayed there from time to time. The day before the shooting, sometime in the early evening, defendant was at her apartment building, outside on the walkway, talking to Boyd. Also there were Chris Bush (a friend of Boyd's who grew up with Boyd in Pasadena, who was also Mia Boyd's boyfriend), and Kalem Squires. Boyd and defendant were talking. Defendant asked where the gun was, and Boyd responded, â€
