People v. Endicott CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 2, 2026
DocketE085152
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Endicott CA4/2 (People v. Endicott CA4/2) 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. Endicott CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Filed 2/2/26 P. v. Endicott CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, E085152

v. (Super.Ct.No. CR21880)

LEON ENDICOTT, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Steven G. Counelis,

Judge. Affirmed.

Jonathan M. Lynn for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General,

Arlene Sevidal, Robin Urbanski and Donald W. Ostertag, Deputy Attorneys General, for

Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Leon Endicot appeals from the trial court’s postjudgment

order denying his Penal Code1 section 1172.6 petition for resentencing of his first degree

felony murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) conviction following an evidentiary hearing. Defendant

argues there is insufficient evidence to support the trial court’s finding that defendant was

a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life during the course

of a burglary. We disagree and affirm the trial court’s order.

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background2

Early in the morning on December 2, 1983, a police officer stopped defendant and

his brother codefendant Anthony Endicott3 as they were driving very slowly through a

neighborhood in Sun City. The day previously a residence in Sun City had been

burglarized and various items were taken, including brass candlesticks, silverware, a

1 All future statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 The factual background is taken from the reporter’s transcript from his direct appeal, case No. E001931, which is contained in Exhibit No. 1, and will be denoted as “RT” “1RT” and “1CT” will refer to the reporter’s transcript and clerk’s transcript, respectively, from this case. Exhibit No. 1 includes a copy of this court’s opinion from case No. E001931, a copy of the reporter’s transcript from case No. E001931, and a copy of the clerk’s transcript from case No. E001931. On February 21, 2025, we ordered the superior court clerk to transmit Exhibit No. 1 to this court and to send a copy to counsel.

3 For clarity, Anthony will be referred to by his first name. No disrespect is intended.

2 Tiffany picture frame, a television set, credit cards, and a vacuum cleaner. The brothers

claimed they were looking for work.

Sometime prior to December 13, 1983, defendant had trimmed some trees at 83-

year-old Beatrice Hatfield’s home. Defendant knew that Hatfield had money, that she

was always there, and that she never left her residence. Defendant and Anthony planned

to burglarize Hatfield’s home.

On the night of December 13, 1983, defendant and Anthony went into the house

through the back door. As they were going through cabinets in the home, defendant

heard Hatfield in a back bedroom. The brothers went back to the bedroom where

Hatfield was located, and defendant stood by the bedroom door while Anthony attacked

Hatfield. Anthony hit Hatfield multiple times before taking out his knife and slitting her

throat. Defendant and Anthony then took some mints and a banana from the house before

leaving. As they were leaving, Anthony remarked that “the banana wasn’t even a

Chiquita.”

On the afternoon of December 13, 1983, Anthony visited a friend’s home, during

which time he sharpened the knife that he always carried in a sheath on his belt. Anthony

left but returned later that same night and sharpened his knife again. Defendant arrived a

short while later, and he and Anthony left the house together.

Around 8:00 p.m. on December 13, 1983, defendant and Anthony went to pick up

their friend Troy White from his work. They then dropped him off at his home in Perris.

Around 1:00 to 2:00 a.m., defendant and Anthony returned to Troy White’s apartment.

3 Other people at the apartment overheard defendant and Anthony mumbling to one

another. They heard Anthony tell defendant to shut up, forget it, and it was over. Not

long thereafter, Anthony started washing his knife in the kitchen sink, claiming that he

was washing “catsup” off the knife. Defendant stated to Anthony that he “didn’t have to

cut the lady’s throat from ear to ear,” and Anthony again told defendant to be quiet.

During the course of the conversation between defendant and Anthony, their

friends also overheard them discussing their night’s activities, including that they went to

“rob a house” in Sun City. As defendant and Anthony were talking, Anthony continued

to clean his knife, after which he sharpened it again. Defendant instructed Anthony to

“get rid” of the knife. Anthony and Troy White then smashed the knife with a hammer,

put the pieces into an empty beer can, and threw it into the trash.

The next morning, on December 14, 1983, Troy White and his brother told their

employer what defendant and Anthony had said the night before about murdering an

elderly woman while they were burglarizing her house. They all decided to wait until

they could determine if the story was true, and to check the newspaper to see if there was

any mention of an elderly woman being murdered. Later that same day, defendant and

Anthony tried to sell a women’s small gold watch and a vacuum cleaner to an

acquaintance. Meanwhile, Hatfield’s neighbors grew concerned because Hatfield’s

newspaper was still in her driveway, which was unusual. Upon checking Hatfield’s

home, neighbors discovered the door unlocked, the house ransacked, and Hatfield dead in

her bed. The neighbors contacted the police.

4 Police officers located a jewelry box which had contained a woman’s watch.

Defendant’s fingerprints were found on the inside of the kitchen door, and Anthony’s

fingerprints were found on the patio window. A subsequent autopsy showed numerous

head and neck injuries to Hatfield, including a broken jaw, a cut on her lip, and a three-

inch knife cut that severed her carotid artery.

The day after Hatfield’s body was discovered, the employer of the White brothers

read an article in the newspaper about Hatfield’s murder, which was consistent with what

the White brothers had told him about defendant and Anthony. The employer thereafter

notified the police. The police interviewed the White brothers, after which they agreed to

retrieve the broken knife from the trash. Defendant and Anthony were located shortly

thereafter and placed under arrest.

B. Procedural Background

In 1984, after a joint trial, a jury convicted defendant and his brother codefendant

Anthony of first degree felony murder (§§ 187, subd. (a), 189) and first degree burglary

(§§ 459, 460). The jury also convicted Anthony of first degree burglary of another

residence (§§ 459, 460). Defendant pled nolo contendere to misdemeanor receiving

stolen property (§ 496). The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation that

Anthony committed the murder while engaged in the commission of burglary (§ 190.2,

subd. (a)( 17)( vii)).

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People v. Endicott CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-endicott-ca42-calctapp-2026.