People v. Davis CA2/7

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 22, 2025
DocketB331013
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Davis CA2/7 (People v. Davis CA2/7) 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. Davis CA2/7, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 1/22/25 P. v. Davis CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

THE PEOPLE, B331013

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. A086503) v.

MICHAEL CHARLES DAVIS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Kathryn A. Solorzano, Judge. Affirmed. Rachel Varnell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven E. Mercer and Kathy S. Pomerantz, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. __________________________ In 1984 a jury convicted Michael Charles Davis of first degree murder and robbery. Davis appealed, and we affirmed. (People v. Davis (1987) 189 Cal.App.3d 1177, 1201 (Davis I), disapproved on other grounds by People v. Snow (1987) 44 Cal.3d 216, 225-226.) In 2019 Davis petitioned for resentencing under Penal Code former section 1170.95 (now section 1172.6).1 The superior court found Davis did not establish a prima facie case for relief and summarily denied the petition. Davis appealed, and we reversed and remanded for the court to appoint counsel for Davis, order a response from the People, and allow Davis to file a reply. (People v. Davis (Aug. 18, 2020, B297654) [nonpub. opn.] (Davis II).) Following briefing and an evidentiary hearing, the superior court denied the petition. The court found Davis could still be convicted of felony murder because the People proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Davis was a major participant in the underlying felony (the robbery) and acted with reckless indifference to human life under the factors articulated in People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 (Banks), People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 (Clark), and In re Scoggins (2020) 9 Cal.5th 667 (Scoggins). On appeal, Davis contends substantial evidence did not support the superior court’s findings. We affirm.

1 Further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Evidence at Trial2 1. The prosecution case On the night of December 26, 1981, 62-year-old Thaddeus Pracki went to Joly’s Bar and sat at a booth with Davis and two other men. The four men stayed in the bar together from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Pracki had in the past occasionally picked up men and brought them back to his home. A witness saw Pracki with Davis and another man outside the bar between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. Shortly before 6:00 p.m. the next day, a neighbor went to Pracki’s home and found Pracki was dead, with his naked body lying face down in a short hallway between the bedroom and the bathroom. Pracki’s face was on a pillow, and his wrists were tied to his ankles behind his back with an electrical cord and cloth. An autopsy revealed Pracki died of strangulation. Pracki had six broken ribs, hemorrhages in his head, neck, and collarbone area, four bite marks on the back of his right arm, and numerous bruises and abrasions. Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Ken Gallatin testified that he and four or five other sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene after Pracki’s neighbor called the Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Gallatin saw no signs of forced entry. When he arrived, the lights were on in the kitchen, living room, and bedroom, and he heard a stereo playing in the dining room. He found Pracki’s body “lying face down nude, hog-tied in the hallway, leading from

2 We summarize the testimony and stipulations entered at trial. At the evidentiary hearing the superior court admitted the trial transcripts into evidence.

3 the southwest bedroom to the bath.” Deputy Gallatin found a man’s watch on the bedroom floor next to a fallen statute. The bedroom “appeared to have been ransacked,” with the contents of a metal file cabinet “strewn about the room.” The drawers of the dresser were open with some contents “hanging partially out” and other items on the floor. Similarly, some contents from the closet were “strewn about on the floor and lying across the bed.” Further, there was blood on the bedsheets, which had been torn off the bed. Deputy Gallatin found a butcher knife on the floor on the side of the bed, and another deputy lifted a fingerprint from the knife. Deputy Gallatin also saw a lamp lying on the bedroom floor with most of its electrical cord cut. The cord was the same color as the cord used to hog-tie Pracki. The deputies did not find a wallet or credit cards in the apartment. Shortly before 5:00 p.m., an hour before the neighbor discovered the body, Davis entered a shoe store with a man and woman. Davis tried on a pair of boots and told the salesman he wanted to purchase them. Davis’s male companion presented Pracki’s credit card to purchase the boots. Because the man’s name on his driver’s license did not match the name on the credit card, the salesman called the credit card company. While the salesman was on the phone, Davis walked outside the store. When Davis saw that the salesman and a security guard were following him, he ran. Davis stipulated that he used another credit card belonging to Pracki to purchase gas on December 29, 1981 and a tire two days later. Davis was arrested on June 23, 1982. At the May 5, 1983 preliminary hearing, a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff compared the fingerprint taken from the knife to Davis’s fingerprint and determined they matched. There was no match

4 for a fingerprint that had been lifted from the lamp’s electrical cord.

2. The defense case Davis testified he set up Pracki twice with “studs” and Pracki paid him $50 in advance each time. Davis made arrangements with Pracki to bring a stud named “Shug” to Joly’s Bar on the evening of December 26, 1981. Pracki told Davis he did not have enough cash to pay him in advance, but Pracki would give Shug the money to pay Davis when Shug left his apartment. Davis agreed to be paid later, and he left. The following day Davis met Shug to get his payment. Shug told Davis that Pracki had not paid him but Shug had taken some of Pracki’s credit cards. Shug gave Davis a gasoline company credit card that belonged to Pracki. Davis stated he used the credit card “two or three or four times,” but he did not use the card after January 2, 1982. According to Davis, the knife with his fingerprint was retrieved from the home of Aaron Scott, where Davis was arrested. The knife was found in a pot of knives in Scott’s bedroom.

B. The Verdict, Sentencing, and First Appeal Davis was charged with first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and robbery (§ 211). The information specially alleged the killing occurred in the commission of a robbery (felony murder) (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). It also specially alleged the murder was intentional and involved the infliction of torture within the meaning of section 190.2, subdivision (a)(18). (Davis I, supra, 189 Cal.App.3d at p. 1184.) The jury was instructed on three theories of first degree murder: (1) willful, deliberate, and

5 premeditated murder; (2) felony murder in the perpetration of a robbery; and (3) murder by torture. (Ibid.) The jury convicted Davis of first degree murder, but it found the special allegations were not true. (Ibid.) The jury also convicted Davis of robbery and found true the allegation that Davis intentionally inflicted great bodily injury upon Pracki during the robbery within the meaning of section 12022.7.

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Related

Faretta v. California
422 U.S. 806 (Supreme Court, 1975)
People v. Snow
746 P.2d 452 (California Supreme Court, 1987)
People v. Davis
189 Cal. App. 3d 1177 (California Court of Appeal, 1987)
People v. Banks
351 P.3d 330 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Clark
372 P.3d 811 (California Supreme Court, 2016)
People v. Strong
514 P.3d 265 (California Supreme Court, 2022)
People v. Curiel
538 P.3d 993 (California Supreme Court, 2023)

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Davis CA2/7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-davis-ca27-calctapp-2025.