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People v. Whitt10/25/1990
who performed the autopsy on McCafferty confirmed that the neck wound was inflicted at "close range," but that the gun was "not held directly against the body" at the time.
The day after the crimes, defendant was placed in a county jail cell with Jimmy DeLoach, who was awaiting sentencing following extradition from Georgia on an escape charge. They shared the cell for approximately three weeks, and purportedly spoke many times about defendant's crimes.
DeLoach testified that defendant made the following statements about the Goforth assault: defendant drove his truck to a man's house to collect on a debt, but was told by a woman that the man was not there. Defendant replied, "Well, okay, tell him this." Defendant grabbed a shotgun from inside the truck and shot at the woman. Defendant "blew the wall away," and did not know "how in the world [he had] missed her."
DeLoach testified that defendant described the Elkhorn store robbery as follows: defendant held the shotgun to the clerk's face and said, "Pop the cash register. Give me nothing but big bills." Defendant took the money, backed out of the store, and heard a man behind him ask, "What you doing?" Defendant turned around, and "blew him away." Defendant did so in order to eliminate a "possible witness" to the robbery. Defendant started to reenter the store to kill the clerk for the same reason, but knew that the shotgun blast had probably attracted attention and that he should leave the area "real quick." After driving in a direction away from Yucaipa for 25 to 30 minutes, defendant turned around and came back because he wanted to kill the woman he had shot at earlier (Goforth). He was stopped by a sheriff's "roadblock" en route to her house. Defendant thought about "shoot it out with them," but knew he was "outnumbered."
According to DeLoach, defendant said he was planning to present a defense that he had been drinking beer all day even though he had actually consumed only a couple of cans of beer before the crimes and was not drunk. In the alternative, defendant purportedly was considering a claim of "self-defense," i.e., that McCafferty "grabbed the barrel of the shotgun" and it "accidentally went off."
The defense presented no evidence at this phase of the proceedings.
B. Penalty Retrial
The prosecution introduced a certified copy of defendant's 1974 robbery conviction. At the prosecutor's request, the court instructed the jury that defendant had pled guilty in the instant case to one count of possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.
Defendant, who was 30 years old at the time of the crimes, introduced evidence describing his life from childhood through residence on "Death Row" at San Quentin Prison.
Defendant's father, Edgar, a retired battalion chief for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, testified that defendant was born with a congenital heart problem which required three hospitalizations and regular medical attention during childhood. Defendant has an older brother and younger sister. As youngsters, all three children were "close" to their mother, who did not work outside the home. Edgar described the family as having a "normal middle class" life, which included regular outdoor camping and recreation trips.
Edgar recalled that defendant graduated from high school with good grades. Defendant tried to enlist in the armed services, but was rejected for
medical reasons. Afterwards, Edgar noticed that defendant became "despondent," and that his life-style changed. He moved out of his parents' home at about age 20, but returned occasionally to recuperate from drug and alcohol abuse. Edgar testified t
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