People v. Beverly

233 Cal. App. 2d 702, 43 Cal. Rptr. 743, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1407
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 21, 1965
DocketCrim. 4377
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 233 Cal. App. 2d 702 (People v. Beverly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Beverly, 233 Cal. App. 2d 702, 43 Cal. Rptr. 743, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1407 (Cal. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

MOLINARI, J.

On this appeal from a judgment after conviction by a jury of murder in the second degree (Pen. Code, § 187), several questions are raised by defendant. We shall discuss the facts pertinent to each question in our separate consideration of the points raised on this appeal. Preliminarily, however, we set out the following basic facts:

The evidence supportive of the jury’s verdict is as follows: On the evening of November 15, 1962, defendant, upon re *707 turning to his apartment, found his wife, Anne, her girl friend, Betty Green, and a neighbor, Gordon Tolliver, in the living room. Shortly thereafter they were joined by Gene Knox, James Wilson and Kenneth Boyd. Anne had brought these guests together for a card game. Defendant requested several times that Anne come into the bedroom. Upon her refusal an argument ensued between Anne and defendant, whereupon the latter picked up a coke bottle and slammed it against her face. Boyd remonstrated that defendant should not hit his wife Defendant replied that Anne was his wife and that he could do anything he wanted to. Defendant left the apartment but returned several minutes later. He then slipped off his jacket, produced a knife and moved towards his wife who darted behind Boyd. Angry words were exchanged. Anne refused to move from behind Boyd until defendant ceased threatening her with the knife. Defendant then folded the knife and placed it in a pocket of his trousers. While this altercation was in progress Wilson had gravitated toward the outside door and was urging Boyd to leave and not to become involved in a family quarrel. As Boyd turned around to walk out the door, defendant opened the knife, ran behind Boyd and twice rammed the knife in his back. Boyd subsequently died at a hospital from an internal hemorrhage due to the infliction of the two stab wounds in his back. After the stabbing defendant reappeared in the apartment clutching the knife. Only Anne and her girl friend were then present. Defendant told them he had stabbed Boyd because he did not appreciate Boyd’s telling him what to do. Several hours later defendant notified the police that he had stabbed a man earlier that evening, and he was thereupon placed under arrest. A police officer searched defendant’s jacket and discovered a knife in the lining. Defendant admitted that it was the knife used in the stabbing. He again admitted stabbing Boyd at the police station and when he was subsequently interrogated by Police Inspector Asdrubale.

Defendant took the stand in his own defense and testified substantially as follows: On the night in question he had asked Boyd, Kñox and Wilson to leave the apartment; an argument ensued with his wife and he slapped her; Boyd jumped up from the couch, brandished a knife, moved toward defendant, and invited him outside to fight; defendant then called the police; he next went into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and returned to the living room; a 10-minute argument ensued, after which defendant and Boyd started to leave; *708 defendant, however, changed his mind and refused to fight, but as he turned from the doorway, he thought Boyd was preparing to stab him so he plunged his knife into Boyd’s back; he then ran out the door and continued to struggle with Knox and Wilson; however, when he observed a gun he hurried back into the apartment; he subsequently left the premises and was later arrested. Defendant also testified relative to an incident which occurred at the house of Betty Green two weeks before the subject altercation as follows: That he went to the Green residence to visit his wife and children; that his wife and Boyd were there playing cards together; that he upbraided his wife for playing cards in the children’s presence and invited her downstairs to talk; that Boyd told Anne that she could refuse to go with defendant; that as defendant made reply to Boyd’s remark the latter produced a knife and challenged him to a fight; and that he refused to fight Boyd.

Applicability of the Dorado Buie

Defendant contends that the admission in evidence of the incriminating statements made by him to the police constitutes reversible error in view of the rule announced in People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], Following the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) 378 U.S. 478 [84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977], the California Supreme Court held in Dorado that a defendant’s confession which was elicited under the following circumstances cannot be properly introduced in evidence: “ (1) the investigation was no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but had begun to focus on a particular suspect, (2) the suspect was in custody, (3) the authorities had carried out a process of interrogations that lent itself to eliciting incriminating statements, (4) the authorities had not effectively informed defendant of his right to counsel or of his absolute right to remain silent, and no evidence establishes that he had waived these rights.” (Pp. 353-354.)

With respect to the requirement that an accused be advised of his right to counsel or to remain silent, the recent case of People v. Stewart, 62 Cal.2d 571 [43 Cal.Rptr. 201, 400 P.2d 97], holds that we cannot presume, in the face of a silent record, that the police informed the defendant of these rights. In Stewart, the Supreme Court also amplified upon the meaning of the first three elements of the Dorado rule. It was there stated that the critical or accusatory stage is *709 reached, entitling the suspect to counsel, when two conditions are met: (1) The officers have arrested the suspect, and (2) the officers have undertaken a process of interrogations that lends itself to eliciting incriminating statements. In amplifying upon the concept of an arrest, Stewart states that an arrest includes “custody,” and that an arrest fulfills the first requirement of Dorado that the investigation has begun to focus on a particular suspect. Stating that, “beyond the ‘focus’ and custody, the accusatory stage matures upon the undertaking by the police of a ‘process of interrogations that lends itself to eliciting incriminating statements’ ” (p. 578), Stewart holds that the proper test, in ascertaining whether this third requirement of the Dorado rule is fulfilled, is an objective one turning upon an analysis of “the total situation which envelops the questioning by considering such factors as the length of the interrogation, the place and time of the interrogation, the nature of the questions, the conduct of the police and all other relevant circumstances.” (P. 579.)

Adverting to the instant case, we first set forth the facts pertinent to defendant’s claim. Several hours after the knifing of Boyd defendant telephoned the police and spoke to Officer Driscoll.

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Bluebook (online)
233 Cal. App. 2d 702, 43 Cal. Rptr. 743, 1965 Cal. App. LEXIS 1407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-beverly-calctapp-1965.