People v. Milan

507 P.2d 956, 9 Cal. 3d 185, 107 Cal. Rptr. 68
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 28, 1973
DocketCrim. 15377
StatusPublished

This text of 507 P.2d 956 (People v. Milan) 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. Milan, 507 P.2d 956, 9 Cal. 3d 185, 107 Cal. Rptr. 68 (Cal. 1973).

Opinion

9 Cal.3d 185 (1973)
507 P.2d 956
107 Cal. Rptr. 68

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
MICHAEL DAMIEN MILAN, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. Crim. 15377.

Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

March 28, 1973.

*188 COUNSEL

Elliot E. Stanford, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and William R. Pounders, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

BURKE, J.

Michael Milan was found guilty by a jury of first degree murder of Keith Burney, kidnaping Burney for the purpose of robbery with *189 bodily harm, first degree robbery of Burney, attempted murder of Horace Robert, and first degree robbery of Raymond Lester. The jury fixed the penalty at death for the murder and at life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the kidnaping, and the court imposed prison sentences for the other crimes.[1] A motion for a new trial was denied, and defendant's automatic appeal is now before us. (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b).)

Defendant contends that the court erred in admitting certain evidence, in instructing the jury, and in denying his challenge to the petit jury panel. We have concluded that none of the contentions can be upheld. However, the judgment must be modified to provide for a penalty of life imprisonment instead of death for the murder in accord with our holding in People v. Anderson, 6 Cal.3d 628 [100 Cal. Rptr. 152, 493 P.2d 880]. (See also Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 [33 L.Ed.2d 346, 92 S.Ct. 2726].)[2] Certain modifications of the judgment are also required as a result of the proscription in Penal Code section 654 against multiple punishment. We affirm the judgment as hereinafter modified.

After 8 p.m. on April 15, 1970, Horace Robert, a cab driver, and Keith Burney, a cab-driver-trainee who was riding as a passenger in the front seat, picked up defendant at Marie's Bar in Bell Gardens. Defendant stated that he wanted to go to Redondo Beach, and, after a discussion regarding the fare, they started towards that destination.

They stopped twice en route so that defendant could get matches at a liquor store and attempt to use a restroom. At the second stop it was possibly 9 p.m. According to Robert, at neither stop did defendant stagger or walk in an unusual manner. Robert further testified that he never smelled alcohol on defendant's breath and that during conversations defendant seemed to make sense and his words were not slurred.

After defendant was in the cab 30 minutes or so Robert heard a click that sounded like the shifting of an automatic weapon and on glancing back saw defendant holding a gun against the back of Burney's head. Defendant *190 stated not to do "anything stupid." Robert continued driving in the same general direction and after pushing a button to transmit the conversation said "We'll take you wherever you want to go. We're in Manhattan Beach and you have the gun." He then, in an attempt to attract the attention of the police, went through a stop sign, which was about eight or ten blocks from the place he heard the click. When Robert went through the sign, defendant shifted the gun to the back of Robert's head, said "that was stupid," shot a hole in the windshield and told Robert that the next one would be in the back of his head and to "stop looking for stop signs, and if a police vehicle shows up, you're dead." Robert nevertheless continued to try to get the attention of the police by committing additional traffic violations, including going through two or three more stop signs, speeding at possibly 40 miles an hour, and going through a red traffic signal.

During a conversation defendant stated, inter alia, that he "wanted no witnesses" and that Robert and Burney would be found dead the next morning. Defendant eventually directed Robert to turn down a street and stop. They were then in a residential section with narrow streets and many parked cars. Robert stopped in the middle of the street but defendant directed him to back against the curb. There was a small sidewalk there adjacent to a high hedge and overhanging tree. Defendant told Burney to give him his wallet and keys, and Burney complied. Defendant then asked for Robert's money, but Robert replied that he did not have any. While they were parked at this location, a man parked in front of them and got out of his car. He subsequently looked in the direction of the cab and then reentered his car. Defendant then told Robert to drive off, and Robert did so.

They made one or two additional stops. One stop was four or five blocks from the first stop. At the last stop defendant told Robert to get out and empty his pockets on the car hood. As defendant began to get out of the car, Robert alighted and ran down the street. He heard four shots but succeeded in reaching a house where he sought help.

The police were called, and Robert accompanied the officer to the location where he last saw the cab, but it was no longer there. Later that same night they found the cab parked under a carport in an alley at the rear of an apartment building in Manhattan Beach. Burney's body was in the driver's seat of the cab. It was stipulated that the cause of his death was a gunshot wound of the head.

A resident of the apartment building heard a bang from the carport about 9:45 that night. A couple of minutes later he heard two more bangs, which sounded like gunshots. On looking out he saw a man who appeared *191 to be carrying a gun. The man walked briskly out of the carport and toward the beach; he swayed or slouched forward in an abnormal manner. The resident also noticed a cab in the carport and on looking inside saw a man slumped over the steering wheel. The resident thereupon summoned the police.

Shortly before 10 that same night defendant entered Ercole's Cafe, which was in the same neighborhood as the apartment building behind which Burney's body was found. Defendant ordered a drink, but the bartender, Raymond Lester, refused to serve him because the way he walked in and sat down "didn't seem right." Defendant appeared to be in a hurry and was not steady, and the bartender thought defendant might have had a drink or so, although defendant's speech was not slurred and the bartender did not conclude that defendant was intoxicated. After a while defendant showed the bartender a gun and told him to fill a bag defendant was carrying with money. The bartender obtained money and checks drawn by customers from the cash registers and put them in defendant's bag. Defendant left after threatening the bartender, and the police were then called.

On the same night Officer Mebius saw defendant walking along the street several blocks from Ercole's Cafe and observed that he fit the description broadcasted of the robber of that cafe. Mebius and several other officers who arrived on the scene placed defendant under arrest. On defendant's person they found, among other things, a gun, a bag containing $309 in currency, the checks taken in the robbery at Ercole's Cafe, and a key that activated the ignition to the cab in which Burney's body was found.

A search of the cab and surrounding area revealed four spent cartridges. An officer concluded on the basis of tests he performed that these cartridges had been fired from the gun that was found on defendant's person.

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Bluebook (online)
507 P.2d 956, 9 Cal. 3d 185, 107 Cal. Rptr. 68, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-milan-cal-1973.