People v. Quicke

455 P.2d 787, 71 Cal. 2d 502, 78 Cal. Rptr. 683, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 269
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 1969
DocketCrim. 8754
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 455 P.2d 787 (People v. Quicke) 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. Quicke, 455 P.2d 787, 71 Cal. 2d 502, 78 Cal. Rptr. 683, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 269 (Cal. 1969).

Opinions

TOBRINER, J.

This is an automatic appeal, under section 1239, subdivision (b), of the Penal Code, from a judgment imposing the death penalty upon defendant for the first degree murder of Susan Nash. On defendant’s first appeal we affirmed the judgment of guilt but reversed the judgment as to penalty. (People v. Quicke (1964) 61 Cal.2d 155 [37 Cal.Rptr. 617, 390 P.2d 393].) At the second penalty trial the jury again fixed the penalty at death; this appeal followed.

We shall explain why the judgment in the second penalty trial must be reversed because the trial court committed error of the type condemned in Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968) 391 U.S. 510 [20 L.Ed.2d 776, 88 S.Ct. 1770], in excusing prospective jurors for cause. We shall also explain that although we have concluded that defendant may properly raise in this appeal from his second penalty trial'the contention that the introduction of his confessions at the guilt trial violated the rule of Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) 378 U.S. 478 [12 L.Ed.2d 977, 84 S.Ct. 1758], and People v. Dorado (1965) 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361], we cannot predicate a reversal upon such evidence. Since defendant spontaneously gave his first confession at the. investigatory stage it was properly admitted, and the subsequent ones, although erroneously introduced, did not cause prejudicial error.

Finally, for purposes of retrial we set forth certain errors incurred at the.second penalty trial which should be avoided: [508]*508the admission of (1) the testimony of the court-appointed psychiatrist, (2) a transcript of defendant’s testimony at the first penalty trial, and (3) a transcript of a girl’s testimony at the guilt trial that two weeks before the killing defendant had forced her to engage in sexual intercourse with him.

1. The improper excused of prospective jurors at the penalty trial.

At the outset we observe that the trial court at the second penalty trial undoubtedly excused four prospective jurors in violation of Witherspoon. None of these jurors made it “unmistakably clear' (1) that [he] would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence that might be developed at the trial of the case before [him], or (2) that [his] attitude toward the death penalty would prevent [him] from making an impartial decision as to the defendant’s guilt.” (Witherspoon v. Illinois, supra, 391 U.S. 510, 522-523, fn. 21 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 785].)1 As Witherspoon explains, “a sentence of death [509]*509can not be carried out if the jury that imposed or recom-' mended it was chosen by excluding veniremen for cause simply because they voiced general objections to the death penalty or expressed conscientious or religious scrupléh against its infliction.” (Witherspoon v. Illinois, supra, 391 U.S. at p. 522 [20 U.Ed.2d at pp. 784-785].) “[I]t cannot be assumed that a juror who describes himself as having ‘conscientious or religious scruples’ against the infliction of the'death penalty or against its infliction ‘in a proper case’ (see People v Bandhauer, 66 Cal.2d 524, 531, 426 P.2d 900, 905) thereby affirms that he could never vote in favor of it or that he would not consider doing so in the case before him.” (Id. at pp. 515-516, fn. 9 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 781].) As the record demonstrates, the exclusion of the veniremen requires reversal of the judgment as to penalty. (In re Anderson (1968) 69 Cal.2d 613, 619-620 [73 Cal.Rptr. 21, 447 P.2d 117].)

2. The earlier proceedings.

We must, further, examine the earlier proceedings leading to the determination of defendant’s guilt in order to decide whether the trial court in admitting defendant’s extrajudicial confessions at the guilt phase complied with the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Escobedo v. Illinois, supra, 378 U.S. 478, and the decision of this court in People v. Dorado, supra, 62 Cal.2d 338. These decisions hold that when the accusatory stage has begun the police must advise a suspect of his right to counsel and his right to remain silent.

The above principle applies to all eases which were not final on June 22, 1964, the date on which the United States Supreme Court rendered the Escobedo decision. (People v. Rollins (1967) 65 Cal.2d 681 [56 Cal.Rptr. 293, 423 P.2d 221]; In re Lopez (1965) 62 Cal.2d 368 [42 Cal.Rptr. 188, 398 P.2d 380].) We have adopted, for the purpose of applying the Escobedo holding, the definition of finality found in Linkletter v. Walker (1965) 381 U.S. 618, 622, fn. 5 [14 L.Ed.2d 601, 604, 85 S.Ct. 1731]: “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. . . .” (In re Spencer (1965) 63 Cal.2d 400, 405 [46 Cal.Rptr. 753, 406 P.2d 33].)

We decided defendant’s first appeal on March 20, 1964 (People v. Quicke, supra, 61 Cal.2d 155); we denied the state’s petition for rehearing on April 15, 1964 (id. at p. [510]*510163). Since defendant could have petitioned the United States Supreme Court for certiorari within 90 days after our denial of the petition for rehearing (28 U.S.C. § 2101, subd. (d); rule 22, Rules of the United States Supreme Court; Market Street Ry. Co. v. Railroad Com. (1945 ) 324 U.S. 548, 552 [89 L.Ed. 1171, 1177, 65 S.Ct. 770]), the judgment was not final when Escobedo was decided. (In re Shipp (1967) 66 Cal.2d 721, 723-724 [59 Cal.Rptr. 97, 427 P.2d 761]; People v. Treloar (1966) 64 Cal.2d 141, 143 [49 Cal.Rptr. 100, 410 P.2d 620]; People v. Arguello (1965) 63 Cal.2d 566, 573 [47 Cal.Rptr. 485, 407 P.2d 661]; People v. Polk (1965) 63 Cal.2d 443, 447-448 [47 Cal.Rptr. 17, 406 P.2d 641]; In re Spencer, supra, 63 Cal.2d 400, 405.) Moreover, the judgment as to defendant’s guilt is not yet final for Escobedo-Dorado purposes; we have reasoned that a capital defendant does not lose his right to seek certiorari on issues relating to the determination of his guilt until a determination of penalty becomes final within the meaning of our California appellate rules. (In re Morse (1969) 70 Cal.2d 702, 704 [76 Cal.Rptr. 385, 452 P.2d 601]; People v. Ketchel (1966) 63 Cal.2d 859, 863-866 [48 Cal.Rptr.

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Bluebook (online)
455 P.2d 787, 71 Cal. 2d 502, 78 Cal. Rptr. 683, 1969 Cal. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-quicke-cal-1969.