Denard v. Director, Department of Corrections

967 F. Supp. 387, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8376, 1997 WL 329596
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedMay 29, 1997
DocketNo. CV 96-5167-HLH(RC)
StatusPublished

This text of 967 F. Supp. 387 (Denard v. Director, Department of Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Denard v. Director, Department of Corrections, 967 F. Supp. 387, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8376, 1997 WL 329596 (C.D. Cal. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

HUPP, District Judge.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 636, the Court has reviewed the Petition and other papers along with the attached Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman, and has made de novo determination.

IT IS ORDERED that (1) the Report and Recommendation is approved and adopted; (2) the Report and Recommendation is adopted as the findings of fact and conclusions of law herein; and (3) Judgment shall be entered denying the petition for writ of habeas corpus and dismissing the action with prejudice.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk shall serve copies of this Order, the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommen[389]*389dation and Judgment by the United States mail on petitioner and counsel for respondents.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON A STATE HABEAS CORPUS PETITION

CHAPMAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

This Report and Recommendation is submitted to the Honorable Harry L. Hupp, United States District Judge, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636 and General Order 194 of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

BACKGROUND

I

In an amended information filed on January 22, 1990, in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the petitioner Deautri C. Denard, a California state prisoner, and several co-defendants, were charged with the following offenses: kidnapping for ransom (California Penal Code (“P.C.”) § 209(a)), with the allegation that Kelly Timmons, the victim, suffered bodily harm and was intentionally confined in a manner which exposed her to a substantial likelihood of death (count 1); oral copulation by acting in concert (P.C. § 288a(d)) (counts 2 and 5); forcible rape while acting in concert (P.C. § 264.1) (counts 3, 4 and 6); conspiracy to commit murder (P.C. §§ 182 and 187) (count 8);1 and two murders (P.C. § 187(a)), with the special circumstances that the murders were for financial gain (P.C. § 190.2(a)(1)), were committed during the commission of a kidnapping (P.C. § 190.2(a)(17)) (counts 9 and 10), and with regard to count 10, a multiple murder (P.C. § 190.2(a)(3)); shooting into an inhabited dwelling (P.C. § 246) (count 11); and two attempted murders (P.C. §§ 187(a) and 664) (counts 12 and 13). CT 2083-2092. The petitioner also was alleged to have been convicted of a prior violent felony (P.C. § 667.5). CT 2059-60.

On September 23, 1991, the petitioner was convicted by a jury of kidnapping Kelly Timmons for ransom (count 1); the first-degree murder of Latonjyia Stover (count 9); the second-degree murder of Jamee Finney (count 10); shooting into an inhabited dwelling (count 11); and assaulting Robert Newman with a deadly weapon (count 12). CT 4667, 4678, 4691, 4707, 4717, 4734, 4736, 4739, 4743, 4745. The jury also found that, in count 1, Kelly Timmons, had suffered bodily harm; that the first-degree murder, in count 9, was committed while the petitioner was engaged in the commission of the crime of kidnapping for ransom or kidnapping; that the petitioner committed multiple murders as alleged in count 10; and that the petitioner had previously been convicted of a robbery on March 9,1982. CT 4667, 4697, 4732, 4734, 4740, 4742, 4748. The petitioner was found not guilty of forced oral copulation by acting in concert (count 5), forcible rape while acting in concert (count 6), and the attempted murder of Anthony Milner (count 13). CT 4673, 4675, 4722, 4735-36, 4746. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the financial gain special circumstance alleged in counts 9 and 10, two counts of forcible rape while acting in concert (counts 3 and 4), and one count of oral copulation by acting in concert with force (count 2). CT 4733, 4751.

At the penalty phase of the trial, the jury determined that, as a result of the petitioner’s conviction for first-degree murder with special circumstances (count 9), he should be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. CT 5066, 5068.

On January 31, 1992, the trial court sentenced the petitioner to 27 years to life plus two consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole for his multiple convictions, as follows: the petitioner was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for his first-degree murder conviction; life without the possibility of parole for his kidnapping for ransom conviction; fifteen years to life for his second-degree murder conviction; and seven years for his conviction for shooting into an inhabited dwelling. CT 5188, 5197-98. The petitioner also received a [390]*390three-year stayed sentence for assault with a deadly weapon, and a five-year sentence enhancement for a prior felony conviction. Id.

The petitioner appealed his convictions to the California Court of Appeal. Answer, Exh. A. In an unpublished opinion,2 the California Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment on October 12,1995. Id.

On November 14, 1995, the petitioner filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court.3 Answer, Exh. B. The California Supreme Court denied the petitioner’s and his co-defendants’ petitions on January 24,1996. Answer, Exh. F.

II

The instant habeas corpus petition was filed on July 25, 1996. In this petition, the petitioner raises the following claims: (1) there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s determination that the first-degree murder occurred while the petitioner was involved in a kidnapping; (2) the prosecutor improperly exercised her peremptory challenges to exclude black jurors from the jury; (3) the giving of CALJIC 10.60 violated the petitioner’s right to due process of law; (4) the giving of CALJIC 2.27 violated the petitioner’s right to due process of law; and (5) the trial court erred when it failed to allow cross-examination of Kelly Timmons4 on her false claim that she became pregnant as a result of the alleged rapes. The respondent filed an answer on October 25, 1996, and an amended answer on October 31, 1996. The petitioner did not file a traverse.

III

The California Court of Appeal found the following facts and circumstances underlying the petitioner’s convictions.5 On May 9, 1988, John Jay Porter telephoned Roland Timmons and asked if Mr. Timmons knew where Porter could buy cocaine for the petitioner. Mr. Timmons, who previously had sold drugs with Porter, asked his sister, Kelly Timmons, if she could set up the transaction. Ms. Timmons arranged for Porter and the petitioner to give $14,000 to B.J. Bates, a drug supplier, in exchange for a kilo of cocaine, with herself as a go-between. Ms. Timmons drove to Porter’s house, met Porter and petitioner and received the money. After counting the money, Mr. Timmons met Bates’s underling at the agreed meeting place, gave him the money, and received a plastic bag containing white powder. Ms. Timmons drove back to Porter’s house and gave the bag to Porter and the petitioner. As Ms. Timmons was leaving, Porter and the petitioner ran outside, shouting that she had given them flour instead of cocaine, and forcing her inside the house at gunpoint.

Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
967 F. Supp. 387, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8376, 1997 WL 329596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denard-v-director-department-of-corrections-cacd-1997.