THE PEOPLE, Respondent, v. CLAUDE A. CRAIG, Appellant.
Crim. No. 6083
In Bank. Supreme Court of California
Nov. 1, 1957
313
Edmund G. Brown, Attorney General, Clarence A. Linn, Assistant Attorney General, Raymond M. Momboisse and Arlo Smith, Deputy Attorneys General, Thomas C. Lynch, District Attorney (San Francisco), and Jack Berman, Deputy District Attorney, for Respondent.
CARTER, J.-Defendant, Claude A. Craig, was fоund guilty by a jury of the first degree murder of Helen Ivy and the punishment was fixed at death. On his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, the jury found him sane at the time of the commission of the crime. Defendant‘s motion for a new trial and for reduction of the degree of the crime was denied. The appeal is automatic. (
On November 6, 1956, the defendant registered at the Civic Center Hotel and occupied room number 537 to which he was given a key with that number on it. He had come to San Francisco from Fresno to receive medical treatment for his back which had been injured. On the morning of November 7th, defendant called at the May T. Morrison Rehabilitation Center where he stated to an attendant thаt he wished he were married and that he would like to have a girl because he would like to have a “little loving.” On the evening of the 7th, defendant went to the Bohemian Gardens at 1600 Market Street, where several times, he asked a woman customer to dance with him. She refused and her last refusal was met by a torrent of abusive language from the defеndant who called her a foul name and told her that if she did not dance with him she would find herself picking herself up off the sidewalk. While at the bar, defendant drank only beer and apparently remained sober. The evidence is in conflict as to just how many beers he drank-the patrons at the bar claiming he had about three and defendant himself that hе had about 12. Defendant left the bar at about 2 a.m. with one Russell Martin with whom he walked up Market Street for about 20 or 30 feet. They then retraced their steps and crossed over to Franklin Street. Near the intersection of
The body of Miss Ivy was found at about 7 o‘clock on the morning of November 8th under a car, the wheels of which were jacked, or blocked, up, in a service station at the corner of Page and Franklin Streets directly across from the Bohemian Gardens. She had apparently been dragged some 20-25 feet and the car under which she was lying and the one next to it were spattered with blood. Miss Ivy was wearing a raincoat over a nightgown or slip and panties. The raincoat had been ripped open, the nightgown or slip and the panties were torn open so that the front part of the body was exposed. She was lying on her back with her legs spread slightly apart. Her panties which had been torn open in the front were under her; her arms were in the sleeves of the coat. The victim had suffered multiple contusions and lacerations of the face, both breasts, and of the area around the breasts. She had contusions or bruises of the neck with depressions in the skin. The skin of the lower abdominal area showed lacerations and there was a scuffing of the skin of the entire abdomen. The medical testimony shows that the “scuffing” was probably the result of the body having been dragged across asphalt. Heel marks were found on the woman‘s mid-chest area and others on the lower abdominal area. There were four such heel marks. The autopsy revealed a hemorrhage into the neck muscles, fractured ribs on both sides; a lacerated lung, ruptured liver and subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain. The record shows that thе medical testimony was to the effect that although she could have died of the injuries to the brain, lungs or liver, her death was probably the result of strangulation around the neck. It was estimated that it would have taken from 20 to 80 blows to inflict the injuries. A key to defendant‘s hotel room was found lodged in a fold of the clothing of the victim between her left arm аnd side.
Defendant, who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, was next seen about 4:50 a.m. on November 8th at the office of the California State Railroad at Pier 27 in San Francisco. His hands were bloody, blood was spattered on his
At 9:45 on the morning of the 8th, defendant was at the Morrison Rehabilitation Center in an extremely agitated condition. His right hand was swollen and skinned as a result, he stated to an attendant, of a fall the preсeding night. Defendant asked the attendant if she had read about the murder of a “fluzzy” blonde in an alley the night before.*
Defendant was arrested at 3 o‘clock on the afternoon of the 8th. His right hand at that time was swollen and skinned, his right shoulder was bruised, his left knee was black and blue. In his hotel room, police found the shirt he had worn the previous night. It contained Tyрe A blood. There was also blood on defendant‘s shoes, the heels of which corresponded with the heel prints on the victim‘s body. There were no blood smears on the fly, back or top of defendant‘s shorts or levis. No evidence of a sexual attack was found on the body of the decedent; no evidence of semen or spеrmatazoa was found on either the clothing of the decedent or the defendant.
Defendant testified that he could not remember the events of the night of the crime; that he had been taking pills which he had bought without a prescription for the pain in his back caused by an injury he had previously suffered; that he didn‘t know how much he had to drink but that he drank only beer and that he had always been a “heavy drinker” when he once started. He also said he had been taking “medical shots” in Fresno to keep from going insane. The medical testimony showed that defendant was an emotionally unstable person; that he had had at least one period where he couldn‘t remember where he had bеen or what he had done; that he had difficulty in making decisions.
The second contention is that the evidence, as a matter of law, shows only second degree murder. This contention is meritorious. The record shows a killing accomplished with great brutality, but does not show any premеditation. There is nothing to show that the defendant had ever seen the victim before she approached him where he was standing at the intersection of Franklin and Lily Streets other than the statement that he had “beaten up a woman“; neither is there anything to show how the killing was accomplished. It appears that the only other theory оn which the jury could have found the defendant guilty of first degree murder was that it had been perpetrated in the commission of rape, or the attempt to commit rape. The People contend that the torn clothing, the position of the victim‘s legs, and defendant‘s abusive conduct toward the woman who refused to dance with him as well as thе statement made to the attendant at the Rehabilitation Center that he wanted a girl and that he would like “some loving” all tend to prove that the defendant either raped, or attempted to rape, his victim. It will be recalled that there was no other evidence to this effect-neither the defendant‘s, nor the victim‘s clothing bore any еvidence of the sexual act.
In order to prove the defendant guilty of first degree murder on the theory that it was committed in an attempt to commit rape, or the commission of rape, it is incumbent on the prosecution to prove that he had the specific intent to commit rape. (People v. Cheary, 48 Cal.2d 301, 308 [309 P.2d 431].) There was here, as distinguished from the Cheary case, no blood on defendant‘s trousеrs, other than at the cuff, and no blood on either the fly of his levis or shorts. Since other articles of defendant‘s wearing apparel were well spattered with blood and his hands covered therewith, it would appear that had he raped the deceased, or attempted to do so, the levis and shorts would have shown signs of blood. There is also a complete absence of any evidence in the record to show that he had an intent to commit rape. The record shows that the condition of the woman‘s clothing and her size when
There was no error in the admission of the pictures of the deceased. In this case the pictures were clearly relevant to aid the jury in its determinations and attempt to reconstruct the crime. As we said in People v. Reese, 47 Cal.2d 112, 120 [301 P.2d 582], “Relevant evidence of the condition of the deceased‘s body is admissible although it may be gruesome and possibly inflammatory. (People v. Isby, 30 Cal.2d 879 [186 P.2d 405]; People v. Guldbrandsen, 35 Cal.2d 514 [218 P.2d 977]; People v. Dunn, 29 Cal.2d 654 [177 P.2d 553]; People v. Burwell, 44 Cal.2d 16 [279 P.2d 744]; People v. Cavanaugh, 44 Cal.2d 252 [282 P.2d 53]; People v. Sutic, 41 Cal.2d 483 [261 P.2d 241].) And cumulative evidence on the subject may be proper (People v. Dunn, supra, 29 Cal.2d 654, 659; People v. Reed, 38 Cal.2d 423 [240 P.2d 590].)
Defendant contends that the district attorney was guilty of prejudicial misconduct in his argument to the jury. It is admitted that evidence of the defendant‘s prior conviction for rape was admissible and that the jury was properly instructed as to the sole purpose for its admission. It is claimed, however, that the repeated references to the conviction constituted prejudicial error. The record discloses that the district attorney referred to the defendant as “the convicted rapist” and as the “rapist” as well as referring to the defendant‘s conviction for rape some six times during his argument to the jury. In a case such as the one at bar, it would appear that these references were prejudicial insofar as the degree of the crime is concerned since it emphasized in the jurors’ minds the thought that defendant might be guilty of rape. Defense counsel, however, objected only once and his objection then was to the effect that the prior conviction had “been argued many a time.” Although the jury was instructed that argument of counsel was not evidence in the case, it is doubtful that the instruction cured the error. It is our opinion that the errоr here was so prejudicial as to constitute a miscarriage of justice within the rule announced by this court in People v. Watson, 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243]. However, since the error affected only the degree of the crime, it does not require a reversal where the degree is reduced to that shown by the evidence. Inasmuch as defendant‘s conviction of first degree murder rests entirely on the assumption that he either raped, or intended to rape, his victim it is apparent that the references to him as a “rapist” probably constituted the turning point in the deliberation of the jury.
INSANITY TRIAL
After the verdict had been returned by the jury on defendant‘s plea of not guilty, defense counsel moved for a determination of the present sanity of the defendant. (
While the above statements taken out of context would tend to show that the defendant was mentally deranged, a reading of the record as a whole discloses no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in denying the motion. Although at timеs the defendant was profane, belligerent, and most uncooperative, the trial court observed him in court and on the witness stand and was, apparently, of the opinion that there was no doubt as to his present sanity.
The judgment of the trial court of first degree murder is modified and the cause remanded to the trial court with directions to enter judgment against defendant finding him guilty of second degree murder and thereupon to pronounce judgment upon him as prescribed by law.
Gibson, C. J., Traynor, J., and Schauer, J., concurred.
SPENCE, J.-I dissent.
A reading of the record leaves no doubt that defendant killed Helen Ivy and the majority concedes that “the killing
Shenk, J., and McComb, J., concurred.
Resрondent‘s petition for a rehearing was denied November 26, 1957. Shenk, J., Spence, J., and McComb, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.