State v. Garcia

433 P.2d 18, 102 Ariz. 468, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 296
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 26, 1967
Docket1754
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 433 P.2d 18 (State v. Garcia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Garcia, 433 P.2d 18, 102 Ariz. 468, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 296 (Ark. 1967).

Opinion

LOCKWOOD, Justice:

Defendant was convicted of second degree murder of Jose Cardenas and sentenced to serve a term in the Arizona State Prison of not less than ten years nor more than fifteen years. From such judgment and commitment he brings this appeal.

The facts are viewed to support the verdict. State v. Valenzuela, 101 Ariz. 230, 418 P.2d 386 (1966). On June 27, 1966, defendant was at the home of his fiance’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Granillo, in Tucson. Defendant’s fiance, Maria Isabel Granillo, had already given birth to one child of the defendant’s and at the time was recently pregnant by him again. Maria had also given birth to three children of the victim, Jose Cardenas, though it appears that Maria and Cardenas were also never formally married.

In the early evening of June 27, 1966, Cardenas, in a car owned and operated by a *469 female companion, Maria Montoya, passed in front of the Granillo home. Cardenas, thinking he heard someone at the Granillo home call him a vulgar name, requested his girl friend to stop the car and back up to the home.

At the time the defendant was sitting on a couch in front of the home drinking coffee and playing a guitar in the company of Santos Granillo, brother of the defendant’s fiance. Cardenas and Montoya got out of the car and proceeded to engage in name calling with the Granillo family while remaining outside the fence and open gate. At the time, both Cardenas and Montoya appeared to be intoxicated.

During the ensuing disturbance defendant Garcia refrained from speaking to either Cardenas or Montoya. Cardenas had beaten Maria and her father in the past, and had made threats “to get” Garcia. The defendant stepped into the Granillo home but could still hear and see the argument. Maria and her mother, Mrs. Granillo, went out to the gate and joined Santos Granillo in arguing with Cardenas and Montoya.

After a period of time, Maria returned to the house and brought out a small chain, being about 20}4 inches long when doubled; with each link about 54 inch in diameter with a 2 inch pressure snap at the end.

The continuing argument became somewhat violent, Montoya grabbing the elderly Mrs. Granillo and pulling her about, in the process causing Mrs. Granillo’s' finger to be cut. Montoya also threw a “large rock” but hit no one. Cardenas took the small chain from Maria and began swinging it at her in a menacing manner. During all of this, Santos Granillo apparently thought there was no danger as he was doing nothing to protect his sister nor to help his mother.

The husband of Mrs. Granillo was in the house with the defendant and apparently on his own initiative was proceeding to load his .38 pistol. At this stage, the defendant claims that Maria Granillo screamed and called to him for help. Feeling that it was “his right” to defend his pregnant fiance, the mother of one of his children, from any harm, the defendant grabbed the pistol from Mr. Granillo, rushed from the house and shot Cardenas.

Although Cardenas had not yet harmed anyone, the defendant claimed he thought Cardenas had already used the chain on Maria. Defendant did not attempt to ascertain if in fact the deceased had harmed or was harming anyone. Upon coming within a short distance of the deceased, the defendant told him to leave and shot him at the same time. There is some doubt as to how many shots were fired, it appearing to be anywhere from two to five. Medical testimony indicated that at least two shots caused the wounds in the body.

Cardenas did not die on the spot. He fell to the ground and then was assisted into the automobile by Montoya and was eventually brought to a hospital where he died approximately three hours after the shooting.

The defendant placed rhe gun on a bed in the Granillo’s home and went to his own house. He disclosed the deed to his mother who expressed disbelief. Defendant left his home and spent the entire night behind a fence near his house. Early the next morning, he turned himself in to the authorities.

Defendant appeals to this Court on the ground, among others, that it was prejudicial error for the trial court to refuse to replace one of the jurors with an alternative juror during the trial, or in the alternative, to declare a mistrial. Defendant’s objection to the juror was that the latter concealed relevant information. Though there is ho record of the exact question asked, it appears that during voir dire of the prospective jurors the jury panel was interrogated respecting any connection individual members might have with the Tucson Police Department. The juror in question remained silent to the question notwithstanding the fact he was an uncle by consanguinity of a member of the police force. Defendant discovered this during the trial of the case. and called it to the *470 attention of the trial court. The trial court denied defendant’s motions for juror replacement and mistrial. Defendant argues that had he known that .the juror was related- to a member of the Tucson Police Department he would have challenged the juror for cause. As the silence of the juror precluded defendant from challenging for cause defendant claims that there was an abridgement of his right to both challenge for cause and to exercise peremptory challenges.

In reaching this conclusion, defendant relies upon a 1933 Kentucky case. Drury v. Franke, 247 Ky. 758, 57 S.W.2d 969 (1933), 88 A.L.R. 917. In this case, counsel asked the prospective jurors a question pertaining to involvement they may have had in any automobile accidents and in any litigation similar to the case before that court. It was discovered after the trial that four jurors who should have responded to the question remained silent and thus misled counsel. The Kentucky court held that where a juror by not responding, gives false information in his voir dire examination and it is relied upon, the right to a new trial follows as a matter of law. The court reasoned that the right to challenge involves the incidental right that the information elicited from the juror must be true, and if a party is misled by erroneous information, his right of rejection is impaired.

The Drury case is not directly on point. It was clearly demonstrated that at least one of the four erring jurors in the Drury case had knowledge of his disability. In the present case no positive facts are presented to show that the juror in question had knowledge at the time of voir dire or any time during the trial and jury deliberation that one of his 28 nephews was a member of the Tucson Police Department. Further, the ground for objection to the jurors in the Drury case was their past personal experience and present personal knowledge based on similar litigation and involvement in automobile accidents, and not, as in the case before us, based upon status by “any connection” with an organization.

Defendant also relies upon another Kentucky case, Nuchols v. Commonwealth, 312 Ky. 171, 226 S.W.2d 796, 13 A.L.R.2d 1478, (1950) involving a criminal charge. The information the juror suppressed concerned the fact that he had served as a juror within the last twelve months.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
433 P.2d 18, 102 Ariz. 468, 1967 Ariz. LEXIS 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garcia-ariz-1967.