People v. Thompson CA3

California Court of Appeal·Decided June 23, 2014·No. C073272·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 6/23/14 P. v. Thompson CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C073272

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 12F01254)

v.

ROBERT ALBERT THOMPSON,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant Robert Albert Thompson guilty of first degree murder, and further found that he personally used a knife during its commission. The trial court sustained three recidivist allegations. It sentenced him to state prison for a determinate term with a consecutive indeterminate life sentence.

On appeal, defendant contends the trial court committed prejudicial error when it allowed the impeachment of his credibility with two felony convictions (designated as unspecified “crimes of moral turpitude”) and admitted various photographs. We shall affirm the judgment.

1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Living Arrangements Defendant lived with three women in an apartment on Bell Street. The group had an amicable, polyamorous sexual relationship; defendant was also openly involved in a sexual relationship with a fourth woman who visited the apartment, and with the victim as well, who lived in the Foothill Farms area west of Interstate 80.

Most of these women had nicknames, which we will employ. To the extent it is relevant to the jury’s assessment of their credibility, we note that “Lala” admitted she was a prostitute and gave defendant all of her earnings. “Sena” bought items for the household, but did not otherwise provide defendant with any money. The third resident of the apartment—“Tia”—denied that she or Sena worked as prostitutes. (Defendant testified that Sena worked as a prostitute at some point after moving into the apartment, but Tia did not. “Karma”—the fourth woman—also agreed Tia did not work as a prostitute.) Karma started working as a prostitute after meeting defendant. Defendant had told Lala that victim Sharon King (“Kitty”) was his sugar momma (indicating to Lala that Kitty provided money whenever he asked). According to defendant and Lala, Kitty never worked as a prostitute.

Lala testified that defendant had been physically abusive with her, and had also threatened to kill her and dispose of her body where no one would be able to find it. The four other women had seen defendant argue with Kitty about her drinking; Kitty in return argued about defendant’s control of the use of her car. Lala also saw defendant beat Kitty before having sexual relations with her. Text messages on defendant’s phone records indicated he and Kitty argued about his assertion of control over her money, and Kitty told him that she was going to leave him because he was verbally and physically abusive. Defendant admitted arguing with Kitty about her use of drugs, but denied ever hitting her.

2 B. The Night in Question On February 13, 2012, defendant dropped off Sena at her mother’s house. He asked to borrow a gas can—assertedly to fill one of the household’s cars that had run empty—that he took with him. Later that evening, defendant drove with Lala in Kitty’s car to a gas station, where he filled two or three gas cans and put them in a duffle bag. He normally kept only one gas can in the trunk for when he would drive out of town. He told Lala they would all be driving out of town and he did not want to stop. After they got the gas, defendant and Lala went back to Kitty’s house.

The ensemble was gathered there. Kitty was preparing food. Later in the evening, defendant announced to the five women that they were all going to go for a ride; Lala was under the impression they were going out to “work.” They used Kitty’s car; Lala was the driver. Before they left, defendant gave Sena a list of text messages he wanted her to send to Kitty’s phone.

The testimony about the events thereafter diverges in the particulars. We do not need to detail the discrepancies, as these do not diminish the sufficiency of the evidence because it is for the jury to resolve which facts from which accounts to accept. (People v. Love (1960) 185 Cal.App.2d 604, 608; People v. Holman (1945) 72 Cal.App.2d 75, 89- 90.)

Defendant told Lala to drive to the downtown Sacramento parole office on North B Street near the Loaves and Fishes facility and park in the lot (where they had slept in their car frequently before). Defendant got out of the car and said he would be right back. Kitty also got out of the car. He walked away with Kitty, after taking a plastic bag of clothing from Sena’s lap that Kitty had packed and retrieving the duffle bag of gas cans from the trunk. Before leaving with Kitty, he told Lala he had changed his mind about them working; he directed her to drive to a nearby location in front of an apartment complex on Dos Rios Street near Richards Boulevard. As they waited, Sena sent the text

3 messages on defendant’s list to Kitty’s phone, after which Sena burned the sheet of paper as defendant had also directed. At some point, defendant called Sena and said he had taken care of a problem. Defendant called Lala on her cell phone and told her to meet him where he was walking; she drove to a parking lot of a Midas shop near 16th and D Streets.

Defendant was alone. According to Lala, he did not respond when asked about Kitty. Tia could recall only that he said something about Kitty being gone and not wanting to talk about the subject further; she did not recall him saying that Kitty was dead.1 He was focused on the fact that the car battery was now dead, complaining that the women had run it down listening to the radio. Defendant was barefoot, and was not carrying either of the bags that he had taken with him. Karma thought he was wearing a different outfit. Defendant told Lala to text Kitty and let her know about the car problem. Everyone then slept in the car until the Midas shop opened, whose staff told them it would charge them for any assistance. After having the car towed, the group returned to their own apartment. When a TV news report mentioned police finding a body in Discovery Park set on fire, defendant said, “[Y]ou see that.” He then told everyone that they were all taking a walk to meet someone for a ride.

Karma left. The others got a ride from Sena’s mother, where they had access to another car. Defendant had Lala drive that car to Kitty’s home, purportedly to pick her up. As they approached the residence, they saw police outside. Defendant told Lala to

1 However, Tia told a detective that defendant had said Kitty was “gone” or “dead” and had also cautioned the women not to say anything about his returning to the car without Kitty. As for Karma, she testified that on his return defendant told them that Kitty had gotten angry and left, in a manner suggesting that this was an account with which they should agree. He also had emphasized to her, in particular, the importance of being part of a team, and his need for her to be supportive of him; if interviewed, she should say that she had not been with him, and that Kitty was out of town.

4 drive off; a short distance away, he told her to stop. He hopped out of the car, saying that he needed to handle something, and ran off. Lala drove to the freeway, at which point the police surrounded the car and detained the women for questioning. C. Kitty’s Fate A bicyclist riding to work in Natomas through Discovery Park at 3:30 a.m. on the morning of February 14 had observed through the fog a fire burning intensely in the distance as he crossed over the Jibboom Street Bridge.

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