People v. Dunn

177 P.2d 553, 29 Cal. 2d 654, 1947 Cal. LEXIS 256
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 11, 1947
DocketCrim. No. 4751
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 177 P.2d 553 (People v. Dunn) 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
People v. Dunn, 177 P.2d 553, 29 Cal. 2d 654, 1947 Cal. LEXIS 256 (Cal. 1947).

Opinion

SHENK, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction of first degree murder imposing the extreme penalty, and from an order denying a new trial. His brief lists four points for reversal. One challenges the correctness of the instructions as a whole. Two concern alleged errors in the admission of testimony. The fourth questions the sufficiency of the -showing of premeditation. The facts are established for the most part without contradiction by the testimony of eyewitnesses to the killing and by the circumstances immediately preceding and subsequent to that event.

Defendant and the deceased, Kathryn Way, were married in Arizona in 1936. Kathryn was then sixteen years of age. Defendant was twenty-eight and had two sons by a prior marriage, which may or may not have been dissolved. Defendant was an itinerant worker. Within a few months he and Kathryn separated, became reconciled, and again sepa-, rated. Kathryn then obtained a dissolution of the- marriage, either by an amnubnont because- of her;- minority or by divorce..

Thereafter-, Kathryn, entered' into fwo marriages, the, first; in 19,40; terminate^! by- divor.ee. in 1944; and the. second- in, Marchs, 1945, terminated; by- an annulment in December, 1945., Meanwhile, she. andi defendant, maintained’ an intepmittentQorr,espondence. A. reconciliation- without remarriage, was., eff fected' in. June, 1945, when- Kathryn, against the- wishes of;her- family, left, ben parents?' home, in, Sacramento, and went» tp live with, defendant; in, another,, community. Two or- three, mqnths,later,-the-couple returned to Sacramento, and in No-, vember,- 1945, moved into an apartment rented from a Mrs. Eliot.

While they were residing in the apartment, and on the night of March 3, 1946, after their return from a family picnic, a serious quarrel took place. Defendant admits that on that night hg accomplished an act of sexual intercourse, with. [656]*656Kathryn against her will. He used a physical force which left marks upon her throat observable by others the next day. On the morning of that day, March 4th, Kathryn arrived at the home of her parents soon after 8 o’clock. Accompanied by her mother she went to the police station and requested an escort while she obtained her clothes and other possessions from the apartment. This was refused, so she enlisted the aid of her brother and an uncle. When the defendant returned from work he found that Kathryn had moved out, taldng most of her possessions with her. Thereafter, she resided with members of her family.

Between March 4th and March 18th, the date of the homicide, defendant was persistent in his efforts to intercept Kathryn. He knew that, accompanied by her sister-in-law, she customarily conveyed her father and brother to work in the morning and returned for them shortly before the close of the working day. On six or seven occasions the defendant approached the car in which Kathryn was sitting, engaged her in conversation, and asked her to return to him. Whenever Kathryn saw him approaching she followed»the practice of rolling up the car window to within a short space from the top and locking the door on her side of the car. She repeatedly told the defendant that there was no possibility of a reconciliation. On March 10th, she wrote him to the same effect.

The defendant was working the night shift at a gasoline station. His employer had. shown him a .25 caliber Colt automatic pistol which, for the protection of the station, was kept loaded in the locker room. On March 16th, the defendant asked a customer, Deputy Sheriff Bonetti, to secure enough shells to fill the clip. Bonetti told defendant he could not obtain additional shells. He examined the gun at that time and saw that there were four cartridges in the magazine and one in the chamber. Subsequently, the defendant found on the seat of his employer’s car a sufficient number of cartridges to fill the gun. He then began to take it home with him when he went off duty.

The defendant knew that in the daytime Kathryn was taking care of the eighteen-months-old baby of Dr. and Mrs. Hubbard. On his way to work on the evening of March 16th, he called at the Hubbard home and talked of his desire to have Kathryn return to him. On March 17th, defendant’s employer noticed that the pistol was missing and when de[657]*657fendant came to work at 9 that night, he asked defendant about it. When defendant said he had the gun, the employer told him to get a permit in the morning to carry a weapon, as he did not even want him to have it on the station lot without a permit.

Defendant’s shift ended about seven the next morning, Monday, March 18th. He went to his apartment, still carrying the gun. He saw his landlady and told her he would pay his rent after he slept. About fifteen minutes later he tried to get a drink at a saloon across the street, but was refused service before eight o’clock. He then went to the Hubbard home but found that Kathryn had already called for the baby. He returned to the saloon and consumed two double “shots” of whiskey and two bottles of beer. He next drove to the home of Kathryn’s parents and talked about her to her younger brother. While driving back to town, he saw Kathryn driving toward him, with her sister-in-law and the baby as passengers in the car. He signalled them to stop. Kathryn withdrew off to the side of the road, rolled up the car window, and locked the left-hand door.

Defendant approached her and asked Kathryn to roll down the window so he might talk to her. Then by the stratagem of pretending to borrow a cigarette, he persuaded her to lower the window to a point which permitted him to reach in and unlock the door. He asked her if she would come out or if he would have to kill her in the car. Then without giving her time to make an election, he fired three shots, two of which struck her temple and the other her hand. As the sister-in-law and baby crouched in the car, defendant dragged the stricken woman to the middle of the road and beat her about the face.

Meanwhile the sister-in-law locked the car doors and refused to permit defendant to put Kathryn in the rear seat. Telling him to take Kathryn to a hospital, she drove off and caused the authorities to be notified. At this point one Heaton approached in a truck and suggested calling an ambulance. Defendant said his wife had fallen out of the car and asked assistance in putting her into the rear seat. Heaton’s observation of the condition of Kathryn and of the car aroused his suspicions. As defendant drove off towards Sacramento, Heaton followed him. Apparently noting that he was being followed, defendant drove to the Sacramento Emergency Hospital, but instead of stopping, he drove over the ramp and out. [658]*658IHeaton tried to follow but lost sight of him. Defendant ¡stopped and surrendered the key of the apartment to the ¡landlady, stating that he had shot his wife.

His movements during the next hour are not definitely ¡accounted for, but physical evidence indicates that during ¡that period he took a wrench from his tool kit and beat the •dying woman about her private parts. He appeared at his ;plaee ¡of work about 10:15, stated he had just shot his wife, .and surrendered the pistol. He then inquired about the near•est hospital, and drove away. Shortly thereafter he stopped ■at another service station where he had previously worked, ¡said that his wife had been run over, and asked that an amibulance be called. At this point the police caught up with Mm, and he was taken into custody. Kathryn was taken to the hospital but passed away within five minutes after her ¡arrival.

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Bluebook (online)
177 P.2d 553, 29 Cal. 2d 654, 1947 Cal. LEXIS 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dunn-cal-1947.