In Re Terry

484 P.2d 1375, 4 Cal. 3d 911, 95 Cal. Rptr. 31, 1971 Cal. LEXIS 369
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1971
DocketCrim. 13949
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 484 P.2d 1375 (In Re Terry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Terry, 484 P.2d 1375, 4 Cal. 3d 911, 95 Cal. Rptr. 31, 1971 Cal. LEXIS 369 (Cal. 1971).

Opinion

Opinion

BURKE, J.

In 1959 Doyle Alva Terry was convicted on two counts charging lewd acts upon Richard and Timothy respectively, each a child under 14 (Pen. Code, § 288) and one count of infamous crime against nature committed against Timothy (Pen. Code, § 286). The judgment was affirmed. (People v. Terry (1960) 180 Cal.App.2d 48 [4 Cal.Rptr. 597] [hg. den., cert. den. 364 U.S. 941 (5 L.Ed.2d 372, 81 S.Ct. 458)].) In 1960 Terry was found guilty of first degree murder for killing Police Officer Vernon Owings (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 189), 'conspiracy to commit robbery (Pen. Code, § 182), and five counts of first degree robbery (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 211a). We affirmed the judgment except the determination of penalty for the murder. (People v. Terry (1962) 57 Cal.2d 538 [21 Cal.Rptr. 185, 370 P.2d 985] [cert. den. 375 U.S. 960 (11 L.Ed.2d 318, 84 S.Ct. 446)].) Upon a penalty retrial the jury again imposed the death penalty, and we again reversed that penalty. (People v. Terry (1964) 61 Cal.2d 137 [37 Cal.Rptr. 605, 390 P.2d 381] [cert. den. 379 U.S. 866 (13 L.Ed.2d 68, 85 S.Ct. 132)].) The third penalty trial resulted in a mistrial. At the fourth penalty trial a jury again fixed the penalty at death, and we reversed that penalty under the compulsion of Witherspoon v. Ilinois, 391 U.S. 510 [20 L.Ed.2d 776, 88 S.Ct. 1770]. (People v. Terry (1969) 70 Cal.2d 410 [77 Cal.Rptr. 460, 454 P.2d 36] [cert. den. 399 U.S. 911 (26 L.Ed.2d 566, 90 S.Ct. 2205)].)

Terry is currently confined at San Quentin pursuant to the 1959 and 1960 judgments of conviction. He was awaiting his fifth penalty trial for the murder when he filed the instant habeas corpus petition attacking both the 1959 and 1960 judgments on various grounds. We issued an order to show cause and stayed the penalty retrial “[pjending final detérmination of this matter.” We have concluded that the 1960 judgment is valid but that the 1959 judgment must be set aside for the reasons hereinafter set forth.

*916 I. VALIDITY OF 1960 CONVICTION

A. Asserted Error in Use of 1959 Conviction for Impeachment Purposes.

At the trial for murder, robberies, and conspiracy to commit robbery Terry on cross-examination by the prosecutor admitted having been convicted in 1959 on two counts of molesting children and one count of sodomy. The instructions given by the court informed the jury that “a witness may be impeached ... by proof that he has been convicted of a felony.” Terry contends, apparently for the first time, that the testimony of his 1959 conviction was inadmissible, since that conviction was assertedly invalid under Barber v. Page, 390 U.S. 719 [20 L.Ed.2d 255, 88 S.Ct. 1318]. The reason for his apparent delay in presenting this contention undoubtedly is that Barber v. Page was not decided until 1968 and Berger v. California, 393 U.S. 314 [21 L.Ed.2d 508, 89 S.Ct. 540] (making Barber v. Page “fully retroactive”) was not decided until 1969, although he does not so state. (See In re Swain, 34 Cal.2d 300, 302, 304 [209 P.2d 793].)

“We have repeatedly held that prior convictions obtained in violation of Gideon v. Wainwright, . . . 372 U.S. 335 [9 L.Ed.2d 799, 83 S.Ct. 792, 93 A.L.R.2d 733], cannot be used for impeachment or any other purposes. (In re Woods ... 64 Cal.2d 3 [48 Cal.Rptr. 689, 409 P.2d 913]; In re Luce . . . 64 Cal.2d 11 ... ; In re Tucker ... 64 Cal.2d 15 [48 Cal.Rptr. 697, 409 P.2d 921]; People v. Coffey ...61 Cal.2d 204 [60 Cal.Rptr. 457, 430 P.2d 15]; In re Caffey ... 68 Cal.2d 762 . . . .) An accused cannot be forced to suffer anew from the earlier deprivation of his Sixth Amendment right. (Burgett v. Texas. . . 389 U.S. 109, 115. . . .)” (In re Dabney (1969) 71 Cal.2d 1, 6 [76 Cal.Rptr. 636, 452 P.2d 924].) Similarly a prior conviction invalid under Barber v. Page cannot be used for any purpose.

However, even if it be assumed (1) that Terry’s 1959 conviction is invalid under Barber v. Page, supra, 390 U.S. 719, and (2) that the rule here enunciated prohibiting the use of such a prior conviction applies retroactively to Terry’s guilt trial, reversal of the judgment, as we shall see is not required. The introduction into evidence of an unconstitutional prior conviction is not prejudicial per se, and in assessing the prejudicial effect of such an error we must apply the test enunciated in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 710, 87 S.Ct. 824], namely whether the prosecution has proved “beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained.” (In re Dabney, supra, 71 Cal.2d 1, 6-8; People v. Coffey, supra, 61 Cal.2d 204, 219.) Dabney further declared (at p. 8) that “. . . only the most compelling showing can justify finding such error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”

*917 Here the prosecution has made such a showing. In addition to Terry’s testimony of the 1959 conviction there was evidence that he was convicted in 1947 of armed robbery, and this latter conviction was emphasized by the prosecutor in his closing arguments as a basis for impeaching Terry’s testimony on the stand. Although Terry now urges that the evidence regarding the 1947 conviction was inadmissible because he, assertedly, had received a pardon for that offense, as hereinafter appears, the court did not err in admitting that evidence.

Also the jury was instructed that the presumption of truth-telling on the part of a witness may be repelled by the interest of the witness in that case or by contradictory evidence. Terry’s interest in the case is manifest, and, as shown hereinafter, there is extensive and convincing evidence contradictory to his testimony at the trial.

At the trial Terry admitted shooting Police Officer Owings but claimed that it was an accident and denied committing any of the robberies testified to or conspiring with anyone to commit robbery.

Terry’s version of the circumstances surrounding the shooting was as follows: On June 24, 1960, Ross Wilson persuaded him to help get rid of a Cadillac, which was owned by Wilson and had been the subject of a police inquiry. Wilson drove the Cadillac and Terry followed in his Chrysler.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
484 P.2d 1375, 4 Cal. 3d 911, 95 Cal. Rptr. 31, 1971 Cal. LEXIS 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-terry-cal-1971.