People v. Watters

246 Cal. App. 2d 154, 54 Cal. Rptr. 494, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1014
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 3, 1966
DocketCrim. No. 2456
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 246 Cal. App. 2d 154 (People v. Watters) 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. Watters, 246 Cal. App. 2d 154, 54 Cal. Rptr. 494, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1014 (Cal. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

COUGHLIN, J.

By indictment, the defendant Watters and a codefendant named La Vergne were charged with the offenses of murder, robbery and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury; all involved the same victim; and all occurring on January 7, 1965. The codefend[156]*156ant LaVergne was tried separately; was found guilty of all offenses; and, pursuant to the verdict on the penalty phase of the murder charge, was sentenced to death. His conviction and the judgment imposing sentences, including that of death, were affirmed on appeal. (People v. La Vergne, 64 Cal.2d 265 [49 Cal.Rptr. 557, 411 P.2d 309].) The defendant Watters had left the State of California immediately following the events charged as offenses; went to Rochester, New York; was arrested at the latter place; at a hearing before the court in that state waived extradition; and was returned to California for trial. Subsequently, by an amended indictment, defendant was charged with murder, kidnaping for the purpose of robbery, and robbery; was found guilty of murder in the first degree, kidnaping with intent to rob and with infliction of bodily harm upon the victim, and robbery in the first degree; on the penalty phase, the jury fixed the punishment on the murder count as imprisonment for life and on the kidnaping count as imprisonment for life without possibility of parole. Judgment was pronounced, and defendant appealed.

Pertinent facts applicable to the case at bench are summarized in the opinion of People v. La Vergne, supra, 64 Cal.2d 265, 267, as follows: “At approximately 5 a.m. on January 7, 1965 Peter Giacalone, a Los Angeles cab driver, was beaten and strangled to death by two men in an alley in Imperial Beach. In the vicinity of his cab, which was parked near the alley, were found a cigarette lighter, a pair of sunglasses, later identified as belonging to Watters, a hat later identified as belonging to defendant, and some loose $1.00 and $5.00 bills. The trip sheet in the cab showed $14.50 in fares since the commencement of Giacalone’s shift, but no money was found on his body and the wallet was not located. Quantities of blood were on the cab and the ground near it. ”

The cause of the victim’s death was manual strangulation. About his neck, when found by the officers, was Watters’ belt. Trousers worn by Watters on the night of the murder bore bloodstains.

Preceding the murder Watters and LaVergne got into the victim’s cab in Los Angeles; caused the victim to get into the back seat, where he remained with Watters while La Yergne drove the cab to San Diego; made two stops on the way from Los Angeles to San Diego; and drove through San Diego to Imperial Beach where the murder occurred.

At about 6 -.30 a.m. on the same morning Watters obtained a ride in an automobile from a man on his way to work who [157]*157noted that as Watters got into the front seat of the automobile a blue steel revolver fell onto the floor board. Watters picked up the revolver; shoved it into the waistband of his pants; and pulled his sweater over it. Watters got out of the automobile at National City; boarded a bus that took him to Los Angeles; and two days later left Los Angeles, eventually going to Rochester, New York.

As grounds for reversal defendant contends (1) the evidence is not sufficient to support the finding of murder in the first degree; and, (2) the court erred in its instructions to the jury, admitting into evidence photographs of the deceased and permitting the introduction of statements made by him to the officers while he was in custody in Rochester.

The attack upon the sufficiency of the evidence to support a finding of murder in the first degree is premised upon the contention there is no showing the victim was robbed, or that defendant participated in any robbery, and for this reason the case does not come within the felony-murder rule stated in Penal Code, section 189. Parenthetically it is contended the evidence does not show the killing was premeditated. The sufficiency of the evidence to support the charge of first degree murder was not considered in the companion case of People v. La Vergne, supra, 64 Cal.2d 265. However, the judgment in that case was affirmed on facts established by evidence similar to that in the case at bench. The victim collected $14.50 in fares before Watters and La Vergne entered his cab; only $6 and a few cents of this amount was found at the scene of the murder; and it may be inferred the balance thereof was taken from him forcibly by La Vergne or Watters. It is of no consequence that, as argued by Watters, the evidence does not show he actually took any money from the person of the victim, or that any such money was in his possession. Even assuming La Vergne was the robber who took the missing money, there is adequate evidence establishing that Watters was a participant in the offense as an aider and abettor which, under the rule prescribed by section 31 of the Penal Code, makes him a principal in the crime.

In the main, Watters’ defense was predicated upon his contention he did not actually take any money from the victim; did not actually beat, strangle or harm the victim; and his conduct in the premises was the product of fear of injury by La Vergne. In this manner he seeks to excuse or justify giving his belt to La Vergne, which the latter placed about the neck of the victim. However, the evidence justifies the infer[158]*158ence that when the cab stopped on the way from Los Angeles to San Diego and again at the time the murder took place, Watters, if he had chosen to do so, could have left La Vergne to his own devices. His failure to withdraw directly supports the conclusion he actively participated. In addition, the fact that he carried a gun, which was discovered when it fell on the floor of the automobile in which he sought a ride, and the fact his trousers were bloodstained, also are evidence of active participation.

The contention that the evidence is insufficient to support the charge of murder in the first degree is without merit.

The claims that the court erred in admitting in evidence certain photographs of the victim, in refusing to give requested instructions and in giving an instruction that “a homicide resulting from strangulation indicates malice” involved the same claims of error rejected by the court in People v. La Vergne, supra, 64 Cal.2d 265, 270-272.

The court, over objection, admitted into evidence incriminating statements made by Watters to the police officers while in custody after his arrest in Rochester, New York. He contends admission of these statements should have been excluded under the rules stated and applied in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974], Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 [12 L.Ed.2d 977, 84 S.Ct. 1758], and People v. Dorado, 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361].

Following his arrest extradition proceedings were instituted before a court in Rochester, New York; an attorney was appointed by that court to represent him; and, following consultation with that attorney, defendant appeared in court and waived any objection to his extradition.

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Related

People v. Gordon
47 Cal. App. 3d 465 (California Court of Appeal, 1975)
People v. Reyes
526 P.2d 225 (California Supreme Court, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
246 Cal. App. 2d 154, 54 Cal. Rptr. 494, 1966 Cal. App. LEXIS 1014, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-watters-calctapp-1966.