People v. Hampton

73 Cal. App. 4th 710, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 665, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5781, 99 Daily Journal DAR 7367, 1999 Cal. App. LEXIS 670
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 20, 1999
DocketNo. B120730
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 73 Cal. App. 4th 710 (People v. Hampton) 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. Hampton, 73 Cal. App. 4th 710, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 665, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5781, 99 Daily Journal DAR 7367, 1999 Cal. App. LEXIS 670 (Cal. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Opinion

VOGEL (C. S.), P. J.

Introduction

Appellant Charles Hampton robbed a Burger King restaurant; appellant Darrell Williams drove the getaway car. Tried jointly, they were both convicted by a jury of robbery, with findings as to Hampton that he personally used a firearm, and as to Williams that a principal was armed with a firearm.

The court admitted into evidence Hampton’s custodial confession to police concerning his commission of the robbery, with instructions to the jury that it was not admissible against Williams. Hampton’s confession was carefully edited to omit any mention of Williams or of Williams’s participation. We conclude the editing was sufficient to prevent Hampton’s confession from powerfully implicating Williams. Therefore its admission into evidence with a limiting instruction did not violate Williams’s federal constitutional right to confront witnesses against him. We also find no error in the trial court’s instruction on credibility of an immunized witness or the trial court’s award of presentence conduct credits as to Hampton. We affirm [713]*713the judgments after modifying them to include a mandatory parole revocation fine.

Factual and Procedural Background

Testimony of Eyewitnesses

The circumstances of the robbery were proved through the testimony of three of the restaurant employees, followed by evidence of Hampton’s confession admitted solely against him. One of the employees was, at the time of the robbery, Williams’s girlfriend; she testified at trial under a grant of immunity from the prosecutor.

The robbery occurred about 11:00 p.m. on April 27, 1997, at a Burger King restaurant on North Lake Avenue in Pasadena. The dining area was closed about 10:00 p.m., and employee Hope Ritter was cleaning it. Ritter was then appellant Williams’s girlfriend. She was acquainted with appellant Hampton, who was a friend of Williams, and with Donna Statten, another friend of Williams. Earlier that evening Ritter requested Williams to pick her up and give her a ride home, telling him she would get off work at 11:00. While she was cleaning, Ritter observed the flash of headlights from “the car.” Williams regularly picked up Ritter at work, and this was a signal they had worked out to indicate his arrival.

Donna Statten came to the locked door and asked if she could come in while Ritter finished cleaning. Ritter asked and received permission from the manager, Keith Clark, to admit Statten. Ten to fifteen minutes later, Statten informed Ritter that Williams was at the door. Through the door Williams asked Ritter who was closing that night; she told him “Keith” was closing. About five minutes later, Williams came to the door again, this time accompanied by Hampton. Williams again (or perhaps Hampton) asked who was closing that night. Ritter said, “Keith. Why?” At trial Ritter did not remember any response to her question. Ritter asked Donna Statten what was going on, but Statten just shrugged.

After about five more minutes of work, Ritter was finished. She clocked out and exited the door with Statten walking behind her. Suddenly she saw Hampton coming toward her. Hampton “pulled down a beanie,” and he had a gun in his hand. He ran into the restaurant while the door was open. Williams was not “with” Hampton at the door, but he was outside. Williams grabbed Ritter’s arm and said, “Let’s go.”

Restaurant manager Keith Clark saw a man wearing a ski mask enter the restaurant. The robber pointed a gun at Clark’s head and demanded money. [714]*714Clark retrieved money from the cash registers, put in it a Burger King paper bag, and turned it over. Clark then lay on the floor as the robber demanded. He heard the robber leave. Another employee, Carlos Hicks, who was in the kitchen area, observed the robbery. When the robber left, Hicks chased him;

After Williams grabbed Ritter’s arm outside the restaurant, he and Ritter and Statten got in the car. Ritter said, “Why are you guys doin’ this to me? . . . You fucked up my life.” All Williams said in reply was, “It’s gonna be okay.” Williams drove the car out of the parking area onto the street by the nearby McDonald’s, and pulled over on the street. Williams then got out of the driver’s seat and opened up the left rear passenger door. According to Ritter, the car was a blue four-door. Ritter then observed Hampton running to the car. Hampton was carrying a bag. As he neared the car Hampton dropped some change on the ground. Williams and Hampton picked up the money, then Hampton got in and Williams drove off.

Meanwhile employee Hicks was chasing the robber. As the robber ran toward the car parked across the street from McDonald’s, the driver got out and pushed the passenger seat forward. According to Hicks the car was a primer-gray two-door. Suddenly the robber and driver were on the ground as if picking up something. Then they got in the car and it was driven away.

Ritter testified that after they drove away they went to her apartment. She saw the gun there. She got no money from the robbery, and had no knowledge if or how it was split among Williams, Hampton, or Statten. She and Williams returned to the Burger King that night. She spoke to police there and lied that she did not know the robber. Two days later the police came to her apartment and requested consent to search, which she gave. During that search police found a wallet which Ritter had long ago stolen and used the owner’s name and credit to get telephone service. She was arrested for the wallet theft and fraud. When interviewed she was also told she was a suspect in this robbery. Scared, she then told the police the truth about the robbery, consistent with her testimony at trial.

Ritter was prosecuted by the Pasadena City Attorney (i.e., for a misdemeanor) in connection with the wallet and telephone service case. She was not given immunity for that case. About a week before the trial of the present case the deputy district attorney granted her immunity to testify in this case. Ritter understood it to mean that she could not be prosecuted for whatever she might say in court or for any of these events. But she was not concerned, because, “I’m not involved in this.” She agreed to testify in this case before she was granted immunity.

No testimony was offered by the defense.

[715]*715 Hampton’s Confession

Hampton gave a tape-recorded confession to the police. The interview lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, during the first 45 minutes of which Hampton denied being involved. The record on appeal does not include Hampton’s original unedited statement, which apparently contained numerous references to Williams and apparently was 60 pages long when transcribed. The confession was severely edited prior to trial to delete the references to Williams. As edited or redacted and admitted into evidence, the tape was short and its transcription was only five pages long.1

As redacted the statement by Hampton contains no reference to Williams, nor does it contain any substituted symbols for an unnamed person who could be Williams, such as “blank” or “name deleted” or “the other guy.” It contains no references at all to the driver of the vehicle. The only mention of other persons is that the gun was “[a]t Hope’s house” that night after the robbery and “Donna counted” the money “back at Hope’s apartment.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 Cal. App. 4th 710, 86 Cal. Rptr. 2d 665, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5781, 99 Daily Journal DAR 7367, 1999 Cal. App. LEXIS 670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hampton-calctapp-1999.