People v. Robey CA2/7

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 21, 2024
DocketB322607
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Robey CA2/7 (People v. Robey CA2/7) 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. Robey CA2/7, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 6/21/24 P. v. Robey CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

THE PEOPLE, B322607

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA084003) v.

WILLIE LEE ROBEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Eleanor J. Hunter, Judge. Affirmed. Nancy L. Tetreault, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth C. Byrne, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Allison H. Chung, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ______________________________ In 1995 separate juries convicted Willie Lee Robey and codefendant Leroy Clark of first degree murder. In 2020 Robey petitioned for resentencing under Penal Code former section 1170.95 (now section 1172.6).1 Following briefing and an evidentiary hearing, the superior court denied the petition. The court found Robey could still be convicted of felony murder because the People proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was a major participant in the underlying felony (robbery) and acted with reckless indifference to human life under the factors articulated in People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 (Banks), People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 (Clark), and In re Scoggins (2020) 9 Cal.5th 667 (Scoggins). On appeal, Robey contends there was insufficient evidence to support the superior court’s findings. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Evidence at Trial2 In the summer of 1986 Robey, then 19 years old, took a road trip from Mississippi to Los Angeles with his friend Clark, who was older than Robey. Accompanying them were three women: Cassandra James, who was Robey’s girlfriend at the time, and two sex workers who worked for Clark, nicknamed “Coco” and “Candy.” Robey was aware Clark had a gun with him on the trip because at some point before they reached Los Angeles, Clark had an argument with one of the women and shot

1 Further statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 The facts are taken from the testimony at Robey’s trial and the exhibits admitted at trial. The trial transcripts and exhibits were admitted into evidence at the evidentiary hearing.

2 at her while she was running away. When Robey tried to intervene, Clark pointed the gun at him. Robey also knew Clark kept multiple pairs of handcuffs in the trunk of his car. Soon after arriving in Los Angeles, the group ran out of money. Around midnight on July 31, 1986, Clark drove the group to an upscale hotel near downtown Los Angeles. Clark told Coco and Candy to go into the hotel bar to find a “trick” who had money and was staying at the hotel. Clark told the women to then return to the car and give him the man’s room number. Coco and Candy went into the hotel bar as instructed. A few minutes later, Candy returned to the car and told Clark she had identified a trick and gave Clark the room number. Clark told her to go to the man’s room, leave the door unlocked, and have the man undress. Clark and Robey would follow shortly thereafter to rob the man. Robey was in the car with Clark during these conversations. A few minutes after Candy re-entered the hotel, Clark and Robey got out of the car. Clark opened the trunk of the car, retrieved his gun, and placed it in the waistband of his pants. Clark and Robey then entered the hotel. Approximately 10 to 15 minutes later, Clark, Robey, and Candy came out of the hotel and got in the car where James and Coco had been waiting. According to James, Clark had blood spatter on his shirt when he returned to the car. Robey was cradling his hand and said, “The mother fucker bit me.” Clark asked Robey whether he had gotten the briefcase that was in the room. Robey replied, “No. I thought you got it. I was busy trying to hold him and tie him down.” Candy was crying and said, “You all could have killed him.” Clark responded, “Well, bitch, what you give a fuck if we killed him or not?”

3 Clark had the victim’s wallet, which he gave to Robey. Robey counted the money and gave Clark half of it. Clark said, “Man that mother fucker was fighting for that wallet . . . I bust him on the side of the head and he still didn’t want to turn it loose.” According to James, at no point during the night did Robey express any reluctance about participating in the robbery. The group drove back to Mississippi, using the victim’s cash and credit cards for expenses along the way. The next morning hotel employees discovered the dead body of Norris Hayes in his hotel room. Hayes was six feet two inches tall, weighed 190 to 195 pounds and, according to his wife, was a “very strong man” in “excellent physical condition.” When the police arrived, they found Hayes’s body naked, lying face down on the floor, and handcuffed to the bedframe. The mattress and box spring had been dislodged from the bedframe and were covering Hayes’s upper body. A towel was wrapped around Hayes’s face. Underneath the towel, Hayes had a gag in his mouth. The police officers found near the body a broken necklace and a silver and turquoise pendant shaped like a cowboy boot that James later identified as a necklace Robey had purchased for himself during the road trip. The coroner later determined Hayes’s cause of death was asphyxia due to manual strangulation and airway obstruction. The coroner explained the gag in Hayes’s mouth blocked his windpipe, which could have caused Hayes’s death. In addition, the manual strangulation caused Hayes’s larynx to fracture into two halves, which also could have caused death. The coroner opined that Hayes’s death was likely caused by a combination of the gag and manual strangulation. The coroner stated the

4 fracture of Hayes’s larynx was an unusual injury that would have required “a tremendous amount of pressure on the neck.” Hayes’s injuries included broken ribs, bruising on his face, mouth, wrists, and neck, as well as a two-inch laceration on his forehead, which would have bled profusely and could have been caused by being hit with a handgun. After Robey was located in Mississippi in October 1993, he was interviewed by Los Angeles police detectives. The interview was recorded and played for the jury at trial, and the recording and transcript were admitted into evidence.3 Robey admitted he had been in the car when Clark described the plan for the robbery and instructed Candy and Coco to go to the hotel bar. He also admitted he went to Hayes’s room with Clark knowing Clark had a gun. Robey witnessed Clark fighting with Hayes and saw Clark hit Hayes over the head with the gun, causing Hayes to fall to the floor. Clark then handcuffed Hayes to the bed. Robey claimed that at that point he ran out of the room with Candy. Robey admitted using Hayes’s credit cards several times on the return trip home. Robey stated he had been “all shook up and frustrated” when he returned to the car after the robbery. Robey said he had just been doing what Clark told him to do.

B. The Jury Verdict and the Prior Appeal In 1995 Clark and Robey were tried together with separate juries, and both were convicted of first degree felony murder

3 The interview consisted primarily of detectives reading Robey statements he had made to detectives a few days prior and Robey confirming and elaborating on those statements.

5 (§ 187, subd.

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Related

People v. Banks
351 P.3d 330 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Clark
372 P.3d 811 (California Supreme Court, 2016)
In re Loza
10 Cal. App. 5th 38 (California Court of Appeal, 2017)
People v. Gentile
477 P.3d 539 (California Supreme Court, 2020)
People v. Lewis
491 P.3d 309 (California Supreme Court, 2021)
People v. Strong
514 P.3d 265 (California Supreme Court, 2022)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Robey CA2/7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-robey-ca27-calctapp-2024.