People v. PedrozaPeople v. Pedroza
BIGELOW, P. J.—
INTRODUCTION
In November 1998, Donald Schubert was murdered. In April 2012, a jury convicted defendant Raul Pedroza of the first degree murder of Schubert and conspiracy to commit the murder. The jury also found true gang enhancement allegations. The prosecution’s case against defendant relied in large part on the testimony of an accomplice. Following the guilty verdict, the trial court granted defendant’s motion for a new trial, explaining the evidence corroborating the testimony of the accomplice was insufficient. Subsequently, the trial court granted defendant’s motion for dismissal, concluding double jeopardy barred retrial.
On appeal, the People contend the trial court erred in concluding the evidence corroborating the accomplice’s testimony was insufficient, and accordingly the trial court erred in granting the new trial motion. The People further contend the trial court erred in dismissing the case; the People assert the court reweighed the evidence and granted the motion for new trial under
We affirm the trial court orders.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I. Prosecution Evidence
A. Nonaccomplice Testimony
On the evening before Thanksgiving in November 1998, Margaret O. was at her apartment in Rosemead with her boyfriend, Donald Schubert, and other family members, including her daughter, Raquel S. Some time after 10:00 or 10:30 p.m., there was a knock on the door. After Raquel was unable to see anyone through the peephole, Schubert opened the door. Schubert stepped outside and spoke with someone. A minute or two later, Schubert reentered the apartment with Daniel Ahumada. Ahumada waited while Schubert put on a shirt, socks, and shoes, then the two men left. Neither Margaret nor Raquel saw any weapons on Ahumada. After the two men left, Margaret and Raquel heard multiple gunshots.2 Margaret and Raquel looked out a bedroom window. They saw one or two people running up a dirt hill to a brick wall, but could not recognize them. Margaret and Raquel then left the apartment and found Schubert’s body lying in a carport area. Schubert had suffered multiple injuries. According to a police officer who responded to a 10:50 p.m. radio call to report to the scene, the top portion of Schubert’s skull was missing; blood and brain matter could be seen behind his head.
At some point that same night, after 11:00 p.m., Lisa G. heard loud banging noises from the garage at her townhome in Ontario. Lisa lived with Joseph Garivay, who later became her husband. Garivay, defendant, and Ahumada were all members of the Las Lomas gang. When Lisa heard the banging noises, she realized Garivay was not in bed next to her. At some point between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., Lisa went downstairs to the garage. She heard men talking. When she entered the garage she saw Garivay, defendant, Ahumada, and another Las Lomas gang member, Javier Renteria. The men were drinking and the conversation seemed “upbeat.” Lisa did not see any weapons in the garage. Later that day, Lisa gave Ahumada a ride to West Covina. Ahumada had something with him that looked like a gun. Lisa heard Ahumada talking on his cell phone during the ride. Ahumada said something to the effect of: “I remember blasting him and seeing beer come of out of his stomach,” and that he had blasted “Pato,” Schubert’s gang moniker.
According to a gang expert, Schubert was also a member of the Las Lomas gang. The gang had over 400 members. In the late 1990s, there were frequent “in-house murders” in the Las Lomas gang, in which a gang member would murder another member of the gang.
B. Accomplice Testimony
Ahumada testified at trial. He, defendant, Schubert, Garivay, and Renteria were all members of the Las Lomas gang. According to Ahumada, the night before Thanksgiving in November 1998, he was selling rock cocaine at the apartment complex where Schubert lived. He encountered defendant and Garivay and spoke with them. Garivay asked Ahumada to go to Schubert’s house and call him outside. Garivay said Schubert owed him money and he wanted to be repaid but Schubert had been avoiding him. Ahumada agreed to bring Schubert outside. Garivay told Ahumada to tell Schubert that Ahumada needed help with his car.
Ahumada went to Schubert’s apartment and knocked on the door. Schubert’s girlfriend’s daughter opened the door; Ahumada asked for Schubert. When Schubert came to the door, Ahumada asked for help with his car. Schubert put on his shoes and left the apartment with Ahumada. Ahumada led Schubert to the carport area. As they were walking, Ahumada heard two shots. Ahumada crouched and ran. When he looked over his shoulder he saw defendant standing with a revolver pointed toward Schubert. Garivay walked to Schubert and shot him twice more with a shotgun. Garivay yelled, “Let’s go.” The three men ran up a nearby hill and jumped over a wall. A car was waiting. Renteria was in the driver’s seat. The men drove to Garivay’s house, which was around 20 minutes away. Ahumada testified he stayed at the house for two days. He denied having a cell phone conversation while Lisa drove him home, and denied saying that he shot or killed Schubert, or that he saw beer coming out of him. Ahumada denied having a gun with him; instead he testified defendant and Renteria left the Garivay house with guns.
At the time of trial, Ahumada was serving a 15-year-to-life sentence. He had pleaded guilty and was convicted as an aider and abettor in the murder.
II. Defense Evidence
On cross-examination, Lisa testified she went to bed around 11:00 p.m. the night before Thanksgiving, and Garivay was in bed with her. She testified that between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. that night, Garivay was with her in Ontario. She also testified she was awakened by a noise between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. the next morning, but she did not get out of bed immediately; she returned to sleep and, only hours later, went downstairs and saw the group of
On cross-examination, Ahumada admitted that two years before the murder, he and Schubert had a fistfight. Ahumada asserted the dispute was between Schubert and Ahumada’s “homeboy”; Ahumada stepped into the dispute on his friend’s behalf and Schubert punched him.
Police recovered shoe prints from the hill near the apartment complex where Schubert was killed. None of the prints matched two pairs of shoes taken from defendant’s home.
III. Relevant Procedural History
After the prosecution rested its case, defendant moved for acquittal pursuant to
The jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder (
Defendant moved for a new trial, citing
Defendant then filed a motion to dismiss the case based on double jeopardy. Defendant argued that since the trial court ruled the evidence at the first trial was insufficient as a matter of law to corroborate Ahumada’s testimony, under Hudson v. Louisiana (1981) 450 U.S. 40 [67 L.Ed.2d 30, 101 S.Ct. 970] (Hudson), and related cases, double jeopardy barred retrial. The People responded that the court could not acquit defendant pursuant to
The People timely appealed.
DISCUSSION
On appeal, the People contend the trial court erred as a matter of law in concluding there was no legally sufficient evidence to corroborate Ahumada’s testimony. The People further contend the trial court erred in dismissing the case on double jeopardy grounds. The People assert double jeopardy bars retrial only when there is a trial court ruling constituting an acquittal, and here the trial court granted the motion for a new trial after reweighing the evidence as the 13th juror. Defendant counters that both the dismissal order and the order granting a new trial constituted acquittals for double jeopardy purposes, thus neither order is appealable. We conclude that although both orders may be reviewed on appeal, the trial court did not err in granting the motion for new trial or in dismissing the case.
I. The Trial Court Rulings Were Acquittals
We first consider the proper characterization of the trial court orders. The People argue the trial court erroneously granted the motion for new trial after reweighing the evidence under
We conclude the trial court ruled there was insufficient evidence as a matter of law, and this ruling constituted an acquittal. However, we also conclude in the next section that because the acquittal occurred after the jury rendered a guilty verdict, the dismissal order is appealable.
Summary of Relevant Facts
As detailed above, defendant’s motion for a new trial invoked
Relevant Legal Principles
To guide our analysis, we review two posttrial mechanisms for a trial court to reject a jury verdict, and the constitutional principles set forth in Hudson, which the trial court cited as a basis for its decision.
Defendant’s new trial motion invoked
With respect to postverdict judicial dismissals, under
Although a trial court is authorized under
However, in setting these guidelines, the Hatch court explained it did not “intend to impose rigid limitations on the language trial courts may use to
Irrespective of statutory labels, double jeopardy principles may apply and bar a retrial when the trial court finds there was insufficient evidence as a matter of law. (Hatch, supra, 22 Cal.4th at pp. 270–271.) For example, in Hudson, a Louisiana jury found the defendant guilty of first degree murder. The defendant moved for a new trial, which was the only way of challenging the sufficiency of the evidence in that state. (Hudson, supra, 450 U.S. at p. 41.) The trial court granted the motion, stating it was convinced there was no evidence, and certainly no evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, to sustain the guilty verdict. (Ibid.) Following the second trial, the defendant filed a writ of habeas corpus, contending the double jeopardy clause barred the second trial since the first trial court had found the evidence legally insufficient. (Id. at p. 42.) The Supreme Court agreed. Although the trial court granted a new trial, the court concluded the record made clear the judge granted the motion on the ground that the evidence was legally insufficient. The court rejected the state’s argument that the trial court granted a new trial only because it personally doubted the verdict: “The trial judge granted the new trial because the State had failed to prove its case as a matter of law, not merely because he, as a ‘13th juror,’ would have decided it differently from the other 12 jurors. Accordingly, there are no significant facts which distinguish this case from Burks [v. United States, supra, 437 U.S. 1], and the Double Jeopardy Clause barred the State from prosecuting petitioner a second time.” (Hudson, at pp. 44–45, fns. omitted.)
In Burks v. United States, supra, 437 U.S. 1 (Burks), the court held that when either a trial court or a reviewing court determines the evidence offered at trial was legally insufficient to support a conviction, the double jeopardy clause bars retrial, even if the defendant has sought a new trial as a remedy. (Id. at p. 17.) While the court distinguished a reversal for trial error which “does not constitute a decision to the effect that the government has failed to prove its case,” and therefore does not prevent a new trial, “[t]he same cannot be said when a defendant’s conviction has been overturned due to a failure of proof at trial, in which case the prosecution cannot complain of prejudice, for it has been given one fair opportunity to offer whatever proof it could assemble.” (Id. at pp. 15–16, fn. omitted.)
Discussion
In light of the proceedings, we cannot accept the People’s argument that the court granted the motion for a new trial based on a reweighing of the evidence as a 13th juror. Although the court did not invoke
People v. Salgado (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 5 [105 Cal.Rptr.2d 373] (Salgado) is instructive. In Salgado, the trial court sua sponte granted a motion for new trial on one count, then immediately dismissed the count. (Id. at p. 8.) The People appealed both orders, arguing the court exceeded its authority in granting a new trial, and that granting a new trial and dismissing the count were inconsistent rulings. While the appellate court agreed the trial court did not have authority to sua sponte grant a new trial, it concluded the error did not invalidate the contemporaneous dismissal of the count. (Id. at p. 9.) The court reasoned that although the trial court’s order indicated it was acting under
The Salgado court explained the record showed the trial court dismissed the count based on a conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction as a matter of law, and it was clear the court applied the proper substantial evidence test, viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, and concluded no reasonable trier of fact could convict. The supporting evidence included the trial court’s statements that there was “insufficient evidence to support a conviction,” and that “ ‘there
Similarly, in this case the record shows the trial court dismissed the case based on a conclusion that there was legally insufficient evidence to support a conviction, given the absence of legally sufficient corroboration of accomplice testimony. Although defendant initially moved for a new trial and the court granted that motion, the record establishes that dismissal, rather than the grant of a new trial, was the proper remedy flowing from the trial court’s ruling, and the court eventually dismissed the case in response to defendant’s motion.5 Citing Hatch, the People assert the record does not clearly indicate the trial court “viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and concluded that no reasonable trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” thus we may not find the court dismissed the case for insufficient evidence as a matter of law under
II. The Dismissal Order Is Reviewable on Appeal
We now address defendant’s contention that the trial court’s dismissal order is not appealable. Under
In Evans v. Michigan (2013) 568 U.S. 313 [185 L.Ed.2d 124, 133 S.Ct. 1069] (Evans), the United States Supreme Court recently explained the principles regarding double jeopardy after a court-ordered acquittal: “[T]he Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrial following a court-decreed acquittal, even if the acquittal is ‘based upon an egregiously erroneous foundation.’ [Citation.] A mistaken acquittal is an acquittal nonetheless, and we have long held that ‘[a] verdict of acquittal . . . could not be reviewed, on error or otherwise, without putting [a defendant] twice in jeopardy, and thereby violating the Constitution.’ [Citation.] [¶] . . . [¶] . . . [O]ur cases have defined an acquittal to encompass any ruling that the prosecution’s proof is insufficient to establish criminal liability for an offense. [Citations.] Thus an ‘acquittal’ includes ‘a ruling by the court that the evidence is insufficient to convict,’ . . . and any other ‘rulin[g] which relate[s] to the ultimate question of guilt or innocence.’ [Citation.]” (Evans, at pp. 318–319 [133 S.Ct. at pp. 1074–1075], quoting Fong Foo v. United States (1962) 369 U.S. 141, 143 [7 L.Ed.2d 629, 82 S.Ct. 671], United States v. Ball (1896) 163 U.S. 662, 671 [41 L.Ed. 300, 16 S.Ct. 1192], United States v. Scott (1978) 437 U.S. 82, 91, 98 & fn. 11 [57 L.Ed.2d 65, 98 S.Ct. 2187] & citing Smith v. Massachusetts (2005) 543 U.S. 462 [160 L.Ed.2d 914, 125 S.Ct. 1129], Sanabria v. United States (1978) 437 U.S. 54 [57 L.Ed.2d 43, 98 S.Ct. 2170].)
Defendant relies on this language and that of similar cases to contend the rulings the People challenge may not be reviewed on appeal. However, in Evans, the court was concerned with a midtrial acquittal. (Evans, supra, 568 U.S. at p. 315 [133 S.Ct. at p. 1073].) The court in fact noted that some jurisdictions avoid the problem of unreviewable but legally erroneous preverdict acquittals because they “allow or encourage their courts to defer consideration of a motion to acquit until after the jury returns a verdict, which mitigates double jeopardy concerns.” (Id. at p. 329 [133 S.Ct. at p. 1081], fn. omitted.) In the accompanying footnote, the court elaborated: “If a court grants a motion to acquit after the jury has convicted, there is no double jeopardy barrier to an appeal by the government from the court’s acquittal, because reversal would result in reinstatement of the jury verdict of guilt, not a new trial.” (Id. at p. 329, fn. 9 [133 S.Ct. at p. 1081, fn. 9].)
This reasoning is consistent with Salgado. In Salgado, a jury convicted the defendant of carjacking and assault with a firearm. The trial court sua sponte granted a new trial of the carjacking count, then dismissed the count after finding the evidence was legally insufficient to support the verdict. (Salgado, supra, 88 Cal.App.4th at p. 8.) The People appealed the new trial and dismissal orders. The Salgado court considered whether the dismissal order was appealable. The court explained that
Defendant contends Salgado is inapposite because in Salgado there was no motion for a new trial, but here, if the People successfully appealed the dismissal order, the order granting a new trial would still stand, resulting in a second trial for defendant. We are not persuaded. As explained above, we have concluded the trial court’s order granting a new trial was an acquittal for double jeopardy purposes. The trial court did not engage in a two-step process in which it first granted the
We find the reasoning of Salgado and Evans equally applicable to this case. The trial court’s dismissal occurred after the jury’s guilty verdict. If we were to find error and reverse the trial court’s rulings dismissing the case, we
III. The Trial Court Did Not Err in Concluding the Evidence Was Insufficient as Matter of Law
We turn to the substantive issue—did the trial court err in finding the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law. We conclude it did not.
Standard of Review
In general, we review a dismissal under
Corroboration of Accomplice Testimony
Here, aside from Ahumada’s testimony, the evidence relating to defendant was: (1) defendant was in the same gang as the victim and Ahumada; (2) the gang—which had over 400 members—was experiencing frequent in-house murders; and (3) at some time after 11:00 p.m., Lisa heard a banging noise at her house; a few hours later, between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., she saw defendant in her garage, along with Garivay, Ahumada, and Renteria.
This evidence failed to tend to connect defendant to Schubert’s murder, or to a conspiracy to commit murder. The evidence showed defendant belonged to a gang in which unspecified members killed other members, for unspecified reasons, and he was in the company of one admitted perpetrator, Ahumada, at least three hours after the murder took place. Yet “ ‘it is insufficient corroboration merely to connect a defendant with the accomplice or other persons participating in the crime, but evidence independent of the testimony of the accomplice must tend to connect a defendant with the crime itself, and not simply with its perpetrators. It is not with the thief that the connection must be had but with the commission of the crime itself.’ ” (People v. Robinson (1964) 61 Cal.2d 373, 400 [38 Cal.Rptr. 890, 392 P.2d 970], fn. omitted.) The nonaccomplice testimony in this case established only that defendant had a general connection to the victim and other perpetrators—shared gang membership—and he was seen associating with the other perpetrators after the murder, away from the crime scene. While “[t]he relationship of the men and all of their acts and conduct may be considered in determining whether there are corroborating circumstances” (People v. Henderson (1949) 34 Cal.2d 340, 343 [209 P.2d 785]), here there was no evidence about defendant’s acts or conduct, except that he was with at least one admitted perpetrator, hours after the crime. (See, e.g., People v. Lloyd (1967) 253 Cal.App.2d 236, 241–242 [61 Cal.Rptr. 138] [defendant’s physical presence with narcotics, in the presence of accomplice who was a “narcotic violator” was not sufficient corroboration; proof of mere presence at scene and opportunity to commit offense are not sufficient on their own].)
As the People point out, other aspects of Ahumada’s testimony were corroborated by independent evidence. The problem is that none of that evidence tended to connect defendant to the crimes.8 This evidence consisted of Margaret’s and Raquel’s testimony that Ahumada came to the door and Schubert left with him; soon after Schubert left, Margaret and Raquel heard gunshots; Margaret and Raquel saw one or two people running up the nearby hill; Schubert was found in the location Ahumada described; Lisa heard noises consistent with someone entering her home and later saw the group together, talking; and Lisa testified she drove Ahumada to West Covina the day after the murder. This evidence corroborates portions of Ahumada’s account of the murder.9 But the standard is that “corroborating evidence is sufficient if, without aid from accomplice testimony, it ‘ “tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense in such a way as reasonably may satisfy a jury that the accomplice is telling the truth.” ’ [Citations.]” (People v. Vu (2006) 143 Cal.App.4th 1009, 1022 [49 Cal.Rptr.3d 765], italics added (Vu); but see People v. Martinez (1982) 132 Cal.App.3d 119, 150 [183 Cal.Rptr. 256] (dis. opn. of Staniforth, J.) [Arguing statute’s legislative purpose would be served by allowing the requisite corroborative evidence to refer to the accomplice’s testimony to be meaningful; “The fact that the accomplice has told the truth about some aspects of the crime is some evidence that he can be believed as to other aspects . . . especially . . . where . . . the accomplice’s testimony is highly detailed and verified in every respect.”].)
Although it is well established that the evidence needed to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony need be only slight, and may be circumstantial and entitled to little consideration when considered alone, relevant case law does not support the People’s position that the corroborating evidence in this case met even that low standard. For example, in a recent case, Manibusan, the defendant was convicted of murder and attempted robbery. (People v. Manibusan, supra, 58 Cal.4th at pp. 46–47.) Two victims were shot dead and a third was severely injured by a gunshot to the head. (Id. at p. 47.) The defendant argued the trial court erred in failing to give accomplice testimony instructions with respect to two witnesses. Our high court found any error was harmless because there was “ample corroborating evidence” from nonaccomplice witnesses. (Id. at p. 95.) This included testimony that in the early morning hours after the crimes, the defendant arrived at a witness’s house, he seemed “antsy,” and he placed a gun in the trunk of the witness’s car; the gun was the same type of gun later identified as the murder weapon; later that day the same witness saw the defendant make a gesture indicating he was responsible for the murders; soon after the shootings, a family friend found the defendant together with two other people at the friend’s house, including one known accomplice; a search of the house a few days later revealed a box of bullets under the couch in the area where the defendant had sat the morning after the shootings; the bullets were of the same caliber as bullets linked to the shootings; a torn black glove was found in the trash at the house; and police later recovered a matching glove at another witness’s house where the defendant had been staying before the shootings. (Id. at pp. 95–96.)
None of this evidence directly implicated the defendant. But it tended to connect him to the crimes. The evidence was not only that the defendant was in the presence of the accomplice soon after the shootings, but also circumstantially linked him to a firearm like the murder weapon and its ammunition. There was also independent evidence about the defendant’s demeanor after the shootings. (See People v. Hayes (1999) 21 Cal.4th 1211, 1272 [91 Cal.Rptr.2d 211, 989 P.2d 645] [corroborating evidence included nonaccomplice testimony that defendant showed unusual interest in the discovery of the victim’s skull].) In this case, there was no similar corroborating evidence. The evidence that defendant was a member of a large gang in which there were in-house killings, and he was seen with the accomplice hours after the
In Vu, supra, 143 Cal.App.4th 1009, the independent corroborating evidence established the defendant’s motive and opportunity to commit the crime, and it discredited the defendant’s alibi. (Id. at p. 1022.) The case involved a gang-related shooting. The defendant was a gang member. He was charged with the fatal shooting of a man at a café that was a hangout of the rival gang. (Id. at pp. 1014–1015, 1025.) Although no evidence independent of accomplice testimony placed the defendant at the scene of the crime or directly implicated him, there was evidence of motive: a gang member who had been the defendant’s closest friend was killed by the rival gang two years earlier, and there was evidence that gangs typically seek revenge. (See People v. Bunyard (1988) 45 Cal.3d 1189, 1206 [249 Cal.Rptr. 71, 756 P.2d 795] [nonaccomplice evidence that defendant had repeatedly offered to pay another person to kill his wife corroborated accomplice’s testimony that defendant solicited him to kill his wife].) A nonaccomplice witness saw the defendant with other gang members before the murders; the witness also saw a car at the same location that was of the same make, color, and model as a car found at the crime scene. (Vu, at pp. 1014–1016, 1019, 1022.) In addition, a nonaccomplice witness’s testimony and cell phone records contradicted the defendant’s statements to police about where he had been at the time of the shootings. (Id. at pp. 1022–1023.) The court concluded this evidence was sufficient to corroborate accomplice testimony inculpating the defendant.
In contrast, here there was no analogous evidence indicating defendant had a motive to murder Schubert. While in Vu there was evidence that the defendant’s gang was looking to retaliate against a rival gang, and the gang member who had been killed was the defendant’s closest friend, in this case there was only evidence that in the over 400-person gang, there were frequent in-house gang murders. This evidence did not establish or even tend to establish that defendant had a motive to kill Schubert or to conspire to kill him. Indeed, other than the fact of shared gang membership, there was no evidence whatsoever regarding any relationship between defendant and Schubert. Similarly, there was no independent evidence regarding defendant’s whereabouts before or during the time of the shooting that would indicate he had the opportunity to commit the murder or participate in a conspiracy.
People v. Szeto (1981) 29 Cal.3d 20 [171 Cal.Rptr. 652, 623 P.2d 213] (Szeto), upon which the Vu court relied, is similarly illustrative in contrast. Szeto also involved a gang-related crime. An accomplice testified that he and other perpetrators opened fire on patrons in a crowded restaurant, killing and wounding several people. (Id. at p. 26.) According to the accomplice, after
On appeal, the defendant asserted the accomplice’s testimony was not sufficiently corroborated. The court found the following independent corroborating evidence was sufficient: the defendant was a member of the same gang as the killers; for several years the defendant’s gang had an active rivalry with another gang; the rivalry had led to 50 murders and assaults and further retaliation; two months before the shooting, a member of the defendant’s gang was killed in a battle between the two gangs; the defendant attended the funeral of the slain gang member; thus the defendant had a motive to help his fellow gang members gain revenge upon the rival gang; one independent witness testified the defendant brought food to the house the morning after the shooting; another independent witness testified someone resembling the defendant brought food; the defendant had been employed at the restaurant the defendant mentioned to the accomplice; the homeowner testified there were guns in a closet in his house the night before the shooting but they were gone the following evening. (Szeto, supra, 29 Cal.3d at pp. 28–29.)
The Szeto court concluded this independent evidence reasonably tended to connect the defendant with the crimes. Although Szeto, like this case, involved gangs and a gang-related crime, there is a significant difference. In Szeto, there was evidence of a specific gang-related motive that served to corroborate the accomplice’s testimony about the defendant’s involvement in the crime. In contrast, in this case the independent gang evidence failed to suggest defendant had a motive to kill Schubert—all of the parties involved were members of the same over 400-person gang, and the gang frequently experienced in-house murders. Unlike evidence of a gang-related motive, such as the gang rivalries and motives for revenge present in Szeto and Vu, the evidence here did not reasonably tend to connect defendant to the murder of Schubert, or the conspiracy to murder. Without any more evidence regarding the intragang killings, that such killings often occurred does not reasonably suggest a motive for the Schubert killing, and does not suggest that defendant in particular had a motive to participate in the Schubert killing. Further, in Szeto, besides the evidence showing the defendant associated with the perpetrators after the crime, nonaccomplice evidence corroborated the accomplice’s testimony that the defendant was familiar with the location
Independent evidence that corroborates portions of the accomplice’s testimony, but which does not tend to connect the defendant to the crime, is not enough by itself to constitute sufficient corroboration under
For these reasons, and as prescribed by
In Tewksbury, the court explained that the People may “vest the witness’ testimony with reliability” by producing corroboration. (Tewksbury, supra, 15 Cal.3d at p. 968.) The evidence may prove “factual matters which fall far short of establishing corroboration beyond a reasonable doubt,” and “ ‘may be slight and entitled to little consideration when standing alone,’ ” but it “must connect the accused with the commission of the crime charged.” (Id. at p. 969.) “Such independent evidence ‘ “need not corroborate the
Thus, even in cases where the reviewing court has included in a recitation of corroborating evidence testimony that relates only to details or the circumstances of the crime, courts have found such evidence sufficient in addition to other evidence tending to connect the defendant to the crime. For example, in People v. Henderson, supra, 34 Cal.2d 340, the court found there was sufficient evidence to corroborate the testimony of an accomplice in a case arising out of an attempted robbery. (Id. at p. 342.) The court identified nonaccomplice evidence corroborating the accomplice’s testimony regarding the number, color, and type of guns he and the defendant used, and the color and design of the stocking caps they wore over their faces. These details concerned the circumstances of the crime and not the defendant. However, the court also identified evidence that the accomplice and the defendant were together most of the day before the attempted robbery, including around three hours before the crime; the accomplice’s sister sold a gun to the defendant the day before the crime; and the gun sold to the defendant was of the same type used in the crime, according to a witness familiar with firearms. (Id. at pp. 345–346.) The court concluded it was “satisfied that the cumulative effect of the testimony of the women companions of the two men, the testimony of
Similarly, in People v. Abilez (2007) 41 Cal.4th 472 [61 Cal.Rptr.3d 526, 161 P.3d 58], the defendant argued there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the accomplice’s testimony inculpating him as the assailant in a sodomy and murder case. The court disagreed because “[a]ll the critical aspects [of the accomplice’s] testimony were corroborated.” (Id. at p. 505.) This included the accomplice’s testimony that he saw the defendant straddling the victim and he saw a white cloth around the victim’s neck. Independent evidence established that the victim was found with a white sock wrapped around her neck. However, there was also independent evidence that on the evening of the crime; the defendant and the accomplice visited the victim; a nonaccomplice witness heard the defendant and the victim arguing and heard the victim scream; the same witness heard someone start the victim’s car and drive away; other witnesses testified that in the days before the murder they heard the defendant state he wished to kill the victim. (Id. at pp. 505–506.) The court found this evidence was sufficient and distinguished cases in which “the purported corroborating evidence ‘did nothing more than show “the commission of the offense or the circumstances thereof,” ’ ” or in which “the only evidence tending to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony was proof the defendants were present at the scene.” (Id. at p. 506.)
Likewise, in Williams, accomplices testified that the defendant planned to scam the victims in a fraudulent drug transaction by trading fake money for drugs, and, during the transaction, the defendant shot and killed both victims. According to the accomplices, the defendant set up the transaction by telephone calls to the victims at their work place; at a meeting place, one of the accomplices took the victims’ wallets; after the defendant shot the victims, he and the accomplices dragged the bodies to the garage and into a truck; and the defendant and one of the accomplices subsequently fled California. (Williams, supra, 56 Cal.4th at pp. 637–642.)
The court found sufficient corroborating evidence in part from testimony of a witness who overheard the victims say they were going to a bar for a drug deal, and evidence that the victims’ wallets were found in a kitchen cabinet at the crime scene. But these details were combined with other evidence that specifically tended to connect the defendant to the crime, such as telephone records between the defendant’s home and the victims’ place of employment; the testimony of a witness who saw the victims talking to someone resembling the defendant; neighbors heard gunshots and saw the defendant and
The same was true in People v. Thompson (2010) 49 Cal.4th 79 [109 Cal.Rptr.3d 549, 231 P.3d 289], in which an accomplice testified the defendant robbed and shot the victim at a lake. The court found there was sufficient evidence to corroborate the accomplice’s testimony. Some of the independent evidence corroborated the general details of the crime, such as what the defendant and the victim ate on the night of the murder, the state of dress of the victim when his body was found, and the presence of drugs in the victim’s blood, which confirmed the accomplice’s testimony that he, the defendant, and the victim, had used drugs the night of the murder. (Id. at p. 124.) However, there was also nonaccomplice testimony that there was a connection between the defendant and the victim; the defendant and the victim left the victim’s cousin’s house together, but the defendant returned without the victim and gave suspicious accounts about the victim’s absence; the defendant and the victim were together the night of the murder at another witness’s house and they left together, but after that night the defendant drove the victim’s car and was seen burning papers and cleaning a gun; and witnesses testified to the defendant’s incriminating statements about a person floating in the lake. (Id. at pp. 88–91, 124.)
Thus, corroborated details about the crime generally may form part of a picture indicating the jury may be satisfied that the accomplice is telling the truth. But, under the statute, the evidence must do more than corroborate the accomplice’s testimony establishing a crime was committed or the circumstances of the crime. The evidence must “tend to implicate the defendant by relating to an act that is an element of the crime. It need not by itself establish every element, but must, without aid from the accomplice’s testimony, tend to connect the defendant with the offense.” (People v. Nelson (2011) 51 Cal.4th 198, 218 [120 Cal.Rptr.3d 406, 246 P.3d 301].) In this case, when the evidence corroborating Ahumada’s testimony about the circumstances of the crimes is combined with the evidence relating to defendant, there is still nothing that tends to implicate defendant by relating to an act that is an element of the crimes. (Williams, supra, 56 Cal.4th at p. 679.) Under
IV. The Trial Court Did Not Err in Dismissing the Case
The People further contend the trial court erred in dismissing the case. The People argue the trial court granted the motion for a new trial under
As explained above, we must reject these arguments. For double jeopardy purposes, it is the substance of a ruling rather than the title that determines whether it is an acquittal that bars retrial. As explained in Evans, United States Supreme Court “cases have defined an acquittal to encompass any ruling that the prosecution’s proof is insufficient to establish criminal liability for an offense . . . . Thus an ‘acquittal’ includes ‘a ruling by the court that the evidence is insufficient to convict,’ a ‘factual finding [that] necessarily establishes] the criminal defendant’s lack of criminal culpability,’ and any other ‘rulin[g] which relate[s] to the ultimate question of guilt or innocence.’ [Citation.]” (Evans, supra, 568 U.S. at p. 318 [133 S.Ct. at pp. 1074–1075], citations omitted.)
And in Burks, the court held that a court’s determination that evidence offered at trial was legally insufficient to support a conviction implicates double jeopardy principles and bars retrial, even if the defendant has sought a new trial as a remedy. (Burks, supra, 437 U.S. at p. 17; see People v. Trevino (1985) 39 Cal.3d 667, 694, 698–699 [217 Cal.Rptr. 652, 704 P.2d 719], disapproved on other grounds in People v. Johnson (1989) 47 Cal.3d 1194, 1221 [255 Cal.Rptr. 569, 767 P.2d 1047] [trial court erroneously denied
Moreover, assuming this ruling was essentially a discretionary judicial dismissal under
Indeed, the result in this case is consistent with the court’s reasoning in People v. Falconer (1988) 201 Cal.App.3d 1540 [248 Cal.Rptr. 60] (Falconer). In Falconer, the defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal at the end of the prosecution’s case on the ground that accomplice testimony was not sufficiently corroborated. (Id. at p. 1542.) After the jury returned a guilty verdict, the defendant appealed. The appellate court concluded there was no nonaccomplice evidence tending to connect the defendant to the crime, thus the accomplice testimony was uncorroborated as a matter of law. The court then concluded an acquittal was necessary. The court explained: “At the close of the prosecution’s case-in-chief, the trial court denied [the defendant’s] motion for judgment of acquittal. (See
Similarly, in People v. Belton (1979) 23 Cal.3d 516 [153 Cal.Rptr. 195, 591 P.2d 485] (Belton), our high court concluded the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s
The procedural posture of Falconer and Belton is different from this case, but their reasoning remains applicable. We are not reviewing the trial court’s denial of defendant’s
DISPOSITION
The trial court orders are affirmed.
Rubin, J., and Flier, J., concurred.