People v. Ketchel

409 P.2d 694, 63 Cal. 2d 859, 48 Cal. Rptr. 614, 1966 Cal. LEXIS 335
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 24, 1966
DocketCrim. 7907
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 409 P.2d 694 (People v. Ketchel) 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. Ketchel, 409 P.2d 694, 63 Cal. 2d 859, 48 Cal. Rptr. 614, 1966 Cal. LEXIS 335 (Cal. 1966).

Opinions

THE COURT.

Donald Floyd Ketchel and Thomas Edward Sears were found guilty of first degree murder and first degree robbery, and the jury imposed the death penalty for the murder. On appeal we reversed the judgments insofar as they related to the death penalty but affirmed them in all other respects. (People v. Ketchel, 59 Cal.2d 503 [30 Cal.Rptr. 538, 381 P.2d 394j.)1 Upon retrial the jury again returned verdicts of death. This appeal is now before us automatically under subdivision (b) of section 1239 of the Penal Code.

[862]*862Appellants, in addition to making claims of error with respect to the second penalty trial, seek to have the remittitur recalled and the judgments as to guilt vacated. They contend, among other things, that confessions inadmissible under Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 [84 S.Ct. 1758, 12 L.Ed.2d 977], and People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], were admitted into evidence at their trial on guilt.

The evidence at the guilt trial is summarized in our prior opinion and need not be repeated here in detail. (People v. Ketchel, supra, 59 Cal.2d 503.) In brief, appellants were convicted of the robbery of employees at the Star Market in Monterey Park and of the murder of George Elder, a police officer who pursued them as they fled from the market.

The crimes were committed on June 9, 1961, and on June 15, 1961, Ketchel was arrested. Following his arrest he was interrogated by officers at police . headquarters. The officers began the interrogation about 6:15 p.m. on the day of the arrest, and shortly after midnight Ketchel confessed to the robbery and the murder. The confession was made in response to questions such as whether he went to the Star Market to commit robbery, whether he displayed his gun to the cashier, and whether he fired at the man who pursued him. No attorney for Ketchel was present when he confessed. Evidence of the confession was admitted at the trial on guilt, as well as at the second penalty trial.

At the time Ketchel made the confession the two conditions prescribed in People v. Stewart, 62 Cal.2d 571, 577 [43 Cal.Rptr. 201, 400 P.2d 97], were met: Ketchel was under arrest, and a process of interrogations that lent itself to eliciting incriminating statements was undertaken. Under the doctrine in Stewart the accusatory stage had been reached, and since it does not appear that Ketchel had been advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent before he confessed, or that he liad otherwise waived those rights, we must conclude that the confession should not have been admitted into evidence. (People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338, 353-354 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361]; People v. Sears, 62 Cal.2d 737, 741-743 [44 Cal.Rptr. 330, 401 P.2d 938].)

Thomas Sears was apprehended in Phoenix, Arizona, and on June 17, 1961, three California law enforcement officers interrogated him at the jail there. At the outset of the questioning the officers asked him whether he was willing to relate his part in the robbery and the shooting of the police [863]*863officer in Monterey Park, and he replied that he was. He was asked questions such as whether a gun shown him was the one he used and why he fired at “the man in the street.” During the interrogation he confessed to the robbery and the murder. No attorney for Sears was present when he confessed. Evidence of the confession was introduced at the trial on guilt, as well as at the second penalty trial.

Sears was advised at the interrogation that anything he said might be used against him in court, but it does not appear that he was advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent.2 Since the accusatory stage had been reached under the doctrine in People v. Stewart, supra, 62 Cal.2d 571, 577, and the record does not show that he had been advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent, or that he had otherwise waived those rights, the confession should not have been admitted into evidence. (People v. Dorado, supra, 62 Cal.2d 338, 353-354; People v. Sears, supra, 62 Cal.2d 737, 741-743.)

The Attorney General contends that the judgments on the issue of guilt were final before the decision in Escobedo v. Illinois, supra, 378 U.S. 478, thereby precluding reversal on the ground of that decision. The judgments as to guilt were affirmed in May 1963, and after appellants’ second penalty trial the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision in Escobedo on June 22, 1964.

Escobedo or Dorado may not be applied “to cases which have become final prior to the date that the United States Supreme Court rendered the Escobedo decision.” (In re Lopes, 62 Cal.2d 368, 372 [42 Cal.Rptr. 188, 398 P.2d 380]; In re Shipp, 62 Cal.2d 547, 549 [43 Cal.Rptr. 3, 399 P.2d 571]; In re Lessard, 62 Cal.2d 497, 512 [42 Cal.Rptr. 583, 399 P.2d 39].) In In re Spencer, ante, pp. 400, 405 [46 Cal.Rptr. 753, 406 P.2d 33], we further delineated when a ease becomes final within the meaning of the rule in cases such as Lopez. Spencer states, “In Linkletter v. Walker (1965) 381 U.S. 618 [85 S.Ct. 1731, 14 L.Ed.2d 601], when [864]*864faced with the retroactivity of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 [81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 84 A.L.R.2d 933], the United States Supreme Court made clear that judgments not final at the time of the Mapp decision were reviewable by a writ of habeas corpus. . . . The United States Supreme Court, in Linkletter, defines ‘final judgment’; it states, ‘By final we mean where the judgment of conviction was rendered, the availability of appeal exhausted, and the time for petition for certiorari had elapsed before our decision in Mapp v. Ohio.’ (Linkletter v. Walker, supra, 381 U.S. 618, 622, fn. 5.) . . . Thus the Supreme Court has in substance defined finality as denoting that point at which the courts can no longer provide a remedy to a defendant on direct review.” Spencer and People v. Polk, ante, pp. 443, 447-449 [47 Cal.Rptr. 1, 406 P.2d 641], applied the Linkletter test as to finality in determining whether the judgments were final before Escobedo.

Under the Linkletter test of finality, the judgments as to appellants’ guilt were not final unless “the time for petition for certiorari had elapsed” before Escobedo. Upon our affirmance of the judgments as to guilt appellants could have sought certiorari. (Cf.

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Bluebook (online)
409 P.2d 694, 63 Cal. 2d 859, 48 Cal. Rptr. 614, 1966 Cal. LEXIS 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ketchel-cal-1966.