People v. Jenkins

19 Cal. Rptr. 3d 386, 122 Cal. App. 4th 1160, 2004 Daily Journal DAR 12215, 2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8967, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1639
California Court of Appeal·Decided September 30, 2004·No. A099675·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Opinion

POLLAK, J.

Defendant Nicholas C. Jenkins was convicted by a jury of first degree murder and attempted murder and sentenced to prison for a term of 25 years to life. On appeal, he contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to the police on two occasions. He also contends the prosecutor impermissibly exercised peremptory challenges to remove six African-Americans from the jury, and that the trial court erred by failing to give a unanimity instruction. We conclude that the first statements defendant made to the police, while voluntary under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, nonetheless were the product of an illegal detention and should have been suppressed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The connection, however, between the illegal detention and defendant’s second statements, made voluntarily after being out of custody for three days, was sufficiently attenuated to dissipate the taint of the illegal detention. Because defendant’s second statements, in which he confessed to the crimes, were admissible, the error with regard to the admission of the first statements was not prejudicial. We reject defendant’s remaining arguments and, accordingly, affirm the judgment.

Factual and Procedural History

At approximately 10:00 p.m. on April 29, 1999, Shawn Malvo and Kenneth Scott were shot in East Oakland. An unidentified person who reported hearing gunshots at 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street called the *1166 police. When the police arrived they found Malvo lying in the street. He had been shot several times in the head, shoulder, arm and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. Scott was found lying on the sidewalk two blocks away. He was bloody and had been shot in the chest, abdomen and forearm, but could not identify who had shot him. He explained that he had been shot on 79th Avenue and had run away before collapsing. An ambulance took Scott to the hospital where he was admitted in critical condition.

The police were unable to find anyone who had witnessed the shooting, but one witness reported seeing a white Bronco or Blazer back up and run into her neighbor’s car shortly after the shots were fired and then speed down the street as though the driver “was trying to get away from something.” Sergeant Derwin Longmire identified several cars that appeared to have been struck, including at least one car that had a white paint transfer.

Shortly after the incident, Officer Jason Anderson was advised over his police radio to be on the lookout for a white SUV (sports utility vehicle) with a brown paint transfer and a flat tire. About 1:40 a.m., Anderson saw a white Chevy Blazer on 80th Avenue with right fender damage and a brown paint transfer. Anderson saw the car go through a stop sign without stopping and turn into the driveway of a nearby apartment complex. When the car stopped at the security gate, Anderson approached the vehicle and asked the driver for identification. Defendant was driving the car and was unable to produce any identification. Anderson arrested defendant and put him in the back of his police car. At that time he noticed the Blazer had a spare tire on the left front wheel. Anderson called Sergeant Longmire to advise him of the traffic stop and then transported defendant to the police station. At approximately 2:25 a.m., Anderson placed defendant in a locked interview room in the homicide division. Defendant was not booked on any charges prior to being turned over to the homicide inspectors.

At 4:33 a.m. Longmire entered the interview room and required defendant to submit to a gunshot residue test, the result of which was later determined to be negative. Longmire went back into the room at 5:07 a.m. and a few minutes later read defendant his Miranda 1 rights. Defendant said he understood his rights and initialed a form indicating that he understood and was willing to waive those rights and talk to the police. Longmire initially interviewed defendant from 5:07 until 7:43 a.m. Longmire’s notes taken during this interview indicate that the two talked about the traffic stop and defendant’s personal information. Longmire later testified that he used this time to establish rapport with defendant before asking about the shootings.

*1167 After an almost four-hour break—close to noon—Longmire returned to interview defendant and took his taped statement. Defendant explained that he and some friends were in an apartment in the 1100 block of 79th Avenue when a Blazer pulled up next to a white car with two men in it. Two other men, identified as Shawn Marbley and Charlie Brown, got out of the Blazer and asked the two in the white car for money. When the men in the car said they did not have it yet, Marbley fired 10 or 11 rounds at the two men. One of the men fell on the ground and the other ran away. Marbley chased the man who ran, caught him on the comer of 77th Avenue, and beat him with his gun. Charlie Brown sped away in the Blazer, hitting a brown van, a blue car and a fire hydrant as he left. Charlie Brown parked the Blazer and gave the key to Timothy Garrett. Defendant denied having anything to do with the shooting, but admitted he knew the car had been involved in the shooting when he later borrowed it from Timothy Garrett.

Longmire interviewed defendant again at 5:30 p.m. in order to permit defendant to correct any erroneous statements he had made during the prior interview. Defendant then told Longmire that before the shooting, Marbley told him that he was meeting with a man who owed him a lot of money and that he planned to kill the man if he didn’t have his money. Marbley had told the man to meet him at 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street. When the man arrived, Marbley fired five or six gunshots at the car. The car jumped the curb and crashed into a fire hydrant. Marbley dragged the driver out of the car and shot him five or six times as he tried to crawl away. The passenger fled down the street and Marbley shot him as well. At Marbley’s request, defendant chased the man and caught him on 77th Avenue and held him until Marbley arrived. Marbley pistol-whipped the man and kicked him in the mouth. Defendant then selected Marbley’s photograph from a lineup and identified him as the shooter. Defendant had known Marbley for 10 or 11 years. The interview ended at 6:05 p.m. and defendant was released to go home.

Marbley was arrested two days later, on May 1. Longmire interviewed Marbley and took a statement from him. Early on the morning of May 3, officers woke defendant at his home and asked him to come to the station for additional questioning, which he agreed to do. Defendant was placed in an interview room with Marbley at 2:45 a.m. and the two were jointly interviewed for just over an hour. After the interview, the officers left the two alone in the room for 25 minutes. As Longmire exited, he secretly passed Marbley a tape recorder and indicated he should tape his conversation with defendant. Marbley taped their conversation, but the quality of the recording was poor. Nonetheless, Marbley can be heard on the tape repeatedly accusing defendant of lying and asking defendant to let him go home. A number of times Marbley said that his life was in defendant’s hands. Marbley also said, “They’re trying to cut you a deal to manslaughter . . . that ain’t nothing but a year. If you need money on your books or anything man.

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People v. Jenkins, 19 Cal. Rptr. 3d 386, 122 Cal. App. 4th 1160, 2004 Daily Journal DAR 12215, 2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8967, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1639 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).

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