People v. Caylor

259 Cal. App. 2d 191, 66 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1962
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 20, 1968
DocketCrim. 12787
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 259 Cal. App. 2d 191 (People v. Caylor) 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. Caylor, 259 Cal. App. 2d 191, 66 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1962 (Cal. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

COBEY, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment 1 of conviction of murder which the trial court, as the trier of fact, found to be of the first degree. Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Appellant’s principal grounds of appeal are: (1) he was prevented from receiving a fair trial upon his defense of diminished capacity because pursuant to stipulation of counsel the guilt and insanity phases of his trial were combined; (2) as a matter of law the evidence does not establish murder in the first degree.

About 1:30 p.m., on December 24, 1965, appellant walked into the central office of Alcoholics Anonymous in Van Nuys and directly over to a desk in the rear where Jesse Wells, the office manager, was sitting. Appellant inquired of Wells, “Are you Jess Wells?” Wells said “Yes.” Appellant then killed Wells by shooting him with a hand gun he had been carrying in an attaché case specially fashioned for this purpose. He left at once.

*194 The background of this killing is as follows. On September 6, 1964, appellant and one Barbara Smith, both members of Alcoholics Anonymous, were married. They separated three days later and some weeks later Barbara filed an annulment action which apparently was subsequently changed into a divorce action. Toward the end of January 1965, Barbara moved and thereafter tried to keep her address and phone number from becoming known to appellant.

In June of 1965, appellant phoned Richard Webb, who had been called to be a witness in the divorce action and who had been appellant's sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous. Appellant told Webb that he was going to kill him, that he was going to get Bruce Gleason, who had been Barbara’s attorney in the lawsuit, and that he wanted Barbara’s phone number. During the first two weeks of the following month, July 1965, appellant phoned Webb some 10 to 20 times per day and repeated his threat to kill him.

In this same month appellant started phoning the central office of Alcoholics Anonymous in Van Nuys where Barbara had worked as a volunteer. He requested her phone number but his requests were repeatedly refused. All members of Alcoholics Anonymous knew that telephone numbers and addresses of the individual members were confidential.

In the early part of November 1965, Gage Christian Hartman, the chairman of the board of directors of Alcoholics Anonymous, phoned appellant to find out what his complaints were about the central office in Van Nuys. Appellant replied that the volunteer workers, who were generally fellow members of Alcoholics Anonymous, would not give him his former wife’s telephone number and that they were a source of gossip about him. Hartman assured appellant that he would see to it that no more gossip about appellant emanated from the office and he subsequently endeavored to do so. But he also told appellant that the staff could not give him his former wife’s telephone number and could do no more than relay his request that she call him. This they had already done to appellant’s knowledge.

Thereafter appellant phoned Hartman 10 or 12 times. At first he simply repeated his complaints but in the last 5 or 6 calls appellant started threatening to close the office if Hartman should fail to do so.

Sometime in November 1965, appellant walked into the central office and announced that he had come to close the place. He was carrying a plaid satchel which he dropped on the desk *195 of one of the volunteer workers, a fellow member of Alcoholics Anonymous. The worker heard the thud of metal hitting against metal and momentarily saw what looked like the top of a gun barrel in the satchel. She became frightened. Appellant demanded Barbara’s telephone number and she showed him the files to prove that they did not have it.

During the next few weeks, appellant continued to call seeking Barbara’s telephone number and address and assistance in getting in touch with her. Staff members had to tell him again and again that the office manager would not allow them to give out a member’s telephone number or address and about three times they had to turn appellant’s telephone call over to the office manager, the aforementioned victim, Jesse Wells. On the first occasion, after telling appellant that it was against the rules of the office to give him Barbara’s telephone number and to come on down if he wanted to do so, Wells hung up on appellant. During each of these three calls Wells got louder and angrier before eventually hanging up on appellant.

Appellant continued to brood over the loss of his former wife. He blamed their divorce, which became final on November 16, 1965, on Gleason, her attorney, and Webb, who appellant thought had been a witness against him. He felt that the workers at the Van Nuys central office had conspired against him in helping Barbara obtain her divorce and in keeping him from finding her. He complained bitterly to his close friends in Alcoholics Anonymous about this group’s persecution of him. He told one of his friends, Connie Smythe, that he wanted the central office closed since it was not doing the work of Alcoholics Anonymous.

About a week before Christmas 1965, appellant had a sight mounted on the hand gun which he later used to kill Jesse Wells. He also renewed his repeated threats by telephone to Webb that he was going to kill Webb if Webb was not out of town by Christmas. He called Webb some 10 to 20 times per day.

Appellant was last seen at his place of employment during a Christmas party on the weekend before the killing. On the evening before the killing, at 6:30 or 7 p.m., appellant was noticeably under the influence of alcohol in that his speech was slightly slurred and he was slow in his answers to questions.

Between 8 :30 and 9 on the morning of the killing appellant phoned his good friend, the previously mentioned Connie *196 Smythe, and told her not to go to work since he was going to close the central office. He also said to her, “I don’t want you involved,- I don’t want you to get hurt” as he was ‘ 1 going down and make a mess. ’ ’ About 9 :30 that morning and again about 12:45 that day, appellant telephoned Hartman 'and repeated his demand that the central office be closed or he would do it and Hartman would be sorry. In between these two phone calls appellant had a battery installed in his ear and at that time he again appeared to be under the influence of alcohol but not as much as on the previous evening. He also continued to phone and,threaten Webb.

About half an hour after the killing, appellant called Connie Smythe a second time. He told her, “You don’t have to go to work. ... I have closed the office. It’s a mess down there. . . . Stay away from down there.” It appears that he next called another friend and fellow member of Alcoholics Anonymous who was working alone at the Valley Clubhouse. He told this friend that he was coming over to close that place down. At approximately 3 p.m., he again called Webb and said, “Now what do you think, you SOB!” Webb replied, “I feel very sorry for you.” Appellant said, “Don’t feel sorry for me. Tomorrow you won’t be here.” Sometime between 4:30 and 5 p.m. appellant again phoned his friend at the Valley Clubhouse and repeated his threat to close that club.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
259 Cal. App. 2d 191, 66 Cal. Rptr. 448, 1968 Cal. App. LEXIS 1962, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-caylor-calctapp-1968.