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People v. Whitt8/27/1984
e top of the wall. Ms. Goforth did not notice any indication that Whitt had been drinking. She thought that he was under some stress due to the breakup of his marriage, but his conversation was coherent.
At the end of the conversation, Whitt said, "I'll be back to see Harold." He did not appear to be angry, and he returned to his truck. Suddenly, he turned and fired a shotgun at Ms. Goforth. The shotgun blast hit the wall within an inch of where Ms. Goforth had been standing. Whitt then drove off at a high speed.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the Elkhorn General Store in Forest Falls. He bought beer and cigarettes and talked with one of the other two customers in the store. The store clerk, Linda Weisz, did not notice any signs of intoxication. However, one customer thought Whitt appeared irritable, nervous, and possibly under the influence of cocaine or PCP. Whitt left the store before the other two customers.
A few minutes after the departure of these customers, Whitt came back into the store. He pointed a gun at Ms. Weisz and demanded money from the cash register. She handed him approximately $250. As he left, he walked "kind of sideways and backwards," watching Ms. Weisz while he backed out the front door. Almost immediately after Whitt was out the door, Ms. Weisz heard a gunshot. She locked the door and called the store owner. A minute later, she heard a screech of tires .
William McCafferty was found shortly thereafter lying on the ground in front of the store. He died en route to the hospital. The cause of his death was determined to be a shotgun wound to the neck. The sheriff's department was called, and Ms. Weisz gave a description of Whitt. Several neighbors gave a description of his truck, which had been parked in front of the store during the robbery. These descriptions were broadcast over police radio.
Whitt's truck was stopped, and he was arrested. A shotgun was found on the floor of the passenger compartment of his truck. Nearly $250 in cash was taken from him during the booking procedures. A blood test administered at the sheriff's station revealed a blood alcohol level of .10 percent. Testimony indicated that assuming an average burnoff rate, Whitt's blood alcohol level could have been as high as .14 percent at the time of the offense.
At the sheriff's station, Whitt was placed in a cell with Jimmy deLoach. They shared the cell for several weeks. During this period, Whitt allegedly described the crimes to deLoach. At the trial, deLoach recounted that Whitt told him about going to see Harold Williams at Clella Goforth's house. When Ms. Goforth told Whitt that Williams was not home, Whitt said, "Well, when he gets back, tell him this." He then shot at Goforth and "didn't know how in the world he missed her."
DeLoach also testified that Whitt had related how he then went to the Elkhorn store to commit a robbery. As Whitt backed out of the store after taking the money, McCafferty called out, "Hey, what are you doing?" Whitt said he "turned around and blew him away." Whitt was afraid that McCafferty could identify him so, according to deLoach, he "had to get out of the area real fast." After travelling about 30 miles in a direction away from Yucaipa, Whitt turned around and came back because he wanted to kill Goforth. The police stopped him en route to her house. At first, Whitt wanted "to shoot it out with them," but he decided he "didn't have a chance."
DeLoach also testified that Whitt said that he was planning to present a defense that he had been drinking beer all day. Alternatively, he was thinking of testifying that McCafferty had grabbed his gun while he was walking out of the store an
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