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People v. Burchfield3/12/2003
A jury convicted defendant and appellant Joseph Arthur Burchfield (defendant) of first degree murder under Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a), and second degree robbery under section 211. Defendant was sentenced to a term of 25 years to life on the murder conviction and 3 years on the robbery conviction. The sentence on the robbery conviction was stayed under section 654.
On appeal, defendant contends that the judgment must be reversed because the trial court erred in denying his motion to continue the trial. We shall affirm the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
I. Prosecution's Case
The victim worked on the morning of June 22, 2001. He sold ice cream from a mobile cart. The victim was 62 years old and stood approximately 5 feet 1 inch tall, and weighed approximately 104 pounds. By noon that day, the victim was intoxicated from drinking alcoholic beverages. His employer picked up the ice cream cart.
Sandra Durante saw the victim early that same afternoon. She knew the victim and liked him. She thought that he was a very nice old man. She noticed that he was drunk that afternoon. She shared one of her cigarettes with him while they sat or knelt between some bushes and a fence. The victim tried to fondle Durante. She told him to stop approximately four times, and he eventually stopped. She always felt that she was able to handle the situation with the victim on this day and never felt in danger. Durante got up and walked away from the victim.
Durante noticed that defendant, who was crouched down across the street, had been watching her and the victim. Durante, a heroin addict, had met defendant at a methadone clinic earlier that month. Defendant began looking out for her safety while she worked the streets, selling sexual favors for money. Durante gave defendant her money, which he used to supply them with heroin.
In contrast to the victim's small stature, defendant was 5 feet 11 inches tall, and weighed 193 pounds.
Durante saw defendant approach the victim and repeatedly demand money. The victim responded that he had no money. Defendant was angry. As the victim started walking away, defendant took a shirt from his back pants pocket, put a large rock in the shirt, and used it as a sling. Defendant swung the shirt with the rock in it "really hard" and hit the victim in the head making a "cracking noise." The victim fell to the ground. Defendant hit the victim at least two more times with the rock in the shirt, and then threw the shirt on the ground.
Defendant searched the victim's pockets and removed items. He told Durante that he took $10 dollars and a watch from the victim. Defendant traded the watch for a snow cone and a piece of corn.
Later that afternoon, the victim was seen lying by the bushes. At 7:30 that evening, a call was made to 911 describing a man, later identified as the victim, lying behind the bushes and not breathing. Shortly thereafter, an officer arrived at the scene. A woman pointed the victim out to the officer. The victim was unconscious and face down behind some bushes. When the officer rolled the victim over onto his back, he saw a large amount of blood. The victim was breathing and had a pulse. He had no identification or money on him, and he had no watch. There was a white shirt near the crime scene which the officer took into evidence.
Emergency medical technicians arrived at the scene at 7:35 p.m. The victim did not respond to pain stimulus. The medical technician could feel a soft spot which was on the side of the victim's head, but he could not see it because there was a lot of blood. The blood was coagulated. The vi
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