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People v. Mayfield1/2/1997
KENNARD, J.
Defendant Dennis Mayfield appeals from a judgment of death upon his conviction by jury verdict of one count of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187; all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise indicated) with the special circumstance that the murder victim was a peace officer engaged in performing his duties and that defendant intentionally killed the officer even though defendant knew, or reasonably should have known, that the victim was a peace officer engaged in performing his duties (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7)). The jury also convicted defendant of two counts of attempted murder (§ 187/664), one count of kidnapping for extortion (§ 209, subd. (a)), one count of grand theft from the person (§ 487, former subd. (3) [now subd. (c)]), and two counts of assaulting a peace officer with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (b)). As to each of these offenses except grand theft, the jury found, for the purpose of sentence enhancement, that defendant had been armed with and had personally used a firearm (§ 12022, subd. (a), 12022.5). The jury also found that defendant had personally and intentionally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim of the kidnapping count and one of the attempted murder counts (§ 12022.7). After the jury returned its guilt verdicts, the trial court found, for the purpose of sentence enhancement, that defendant had two prior felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)).
The issue of penalty for the first degree murder with special circumstances was tried to the jury, which returned a penalty verdict of death. The trial court denied the automatic motion to modify penalty (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and sentenced defendant to death on the murder count, to life imprisonment without possibility of parole on the kidnapping for extortion count, and to an aggregate prison term of 20 years on the remaining counts and enhancement allegations, with a restitution fine of $10,000.
This appeal from the judgment of death is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We shall affirm the judgment in its entirety.
I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
Rialto Police Sergeant Gary Wolfley, while in uniform, was fatally wounded by a bullet from his own service revolver during an encounter with defendant at the rear of a gasoline station at approximately 1:40 a.m. on March 3, 1986. Defendant fled the area with Sergeant Wolfley's revolver, pursued by other officers. Defendant fired two shots at the pursuing officers, wounding Officer Joseph Cirilo. A short time later, defendant dove through the living room window of a residence and shot one of the occupants, William Haverstick, who had gotten up to investigate the commotion. Police surrounded the residence. Defendant surrendered to the police at 6:40 a.m.
At trial, the prosecution maintained that defendant had disarmed Sergeant Wolfley to avoid arrest and then had deliberately shot and killed him. The defense maintained that Sergeant Wolfley had shouted racial slurs and verbal threats while pointing his gun at defendant's head; that defendant, fearing for his life, had grabbed the officer's hands; and that the gun had fired accidentally twice during the ensuing struggle.
A. Prosecution's Guilt Phase Case-in-chief
On the evening of March 2, 1986, Tyrone Thomas went to an apartment complex in San Bernardino to purchase cocaine. There, a man grabbed Thomas, pulled him into an apartment, demanded that Thomas repay a debt for an earlier cocaine purchase, took all of Thomas's money, and threatened Thomas with a gun. Upon leaving this apartment, Thomas formed the impression that some men who were standing outside the apartment complex intended to kill him. Thomas ran from the are
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