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People v. Wiley10/4/1976
SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA
Crim. No. 19247
1976.CA.40294 ; 554 P.2d 881; 133 Cal. Rptr. 135; 18 Cal. 3d 162
October 4, 1976
THE PEOPLE, PLAINTIFF AND RESPONDENT,
v.
THERESA WILEY, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT
Superior Court of Alameda County, No. 56867, William J. Hayes, Judge.
Donavon R. Marble, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, Jack R. Winkler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Edward P. O'Brien, Assistant Attorney General, Derald E. Granberg and Sanford Svetcov, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Opinion by Wright, C. J., with McComb, Tobriner, Mosk and Clark, JJ., concurring.
Wright
Defendant Theresa Wiley appeals from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict of first degree murder. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 189.) She contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that
she could be convicted of first degree murder on the basis of murder by torture; that the standard instruction on circumstantial evidence was erroneously omitted; and that certain limiting instructions were also omitted. We have concluded that none of these contentions has merit, and accordingly affirm the judgment.
The relevant events occurred on the afternoon and evening of December 10, 1973, and the day of December 11, 1973. In the early afternoon of December 10th, in response to a "domestic disturbance" call, Officer Hendrix of the Oakland Police Department went to the home which appellant shared with her husband, William Wiley. Appellant, her brother Andrew Henry, and her husband were present. Appellant, whom Officer Hendrix described as physically agitated, accused her husband of having stolen $31 from her. When Officer Hendrix refused her request that he arrest William, appellant declared, "If you don't get my $31 back, I am going to kill him." Officer Hendrix understood this threat to be directed to William. He took William outside and suggested that he take a walk until appellant calmed down. William then walked away as the officer departed.
Officer Hendrix returned to the Wiley home 24 hours later. Andrew Henry met him at the door and told him that William was sick and would not wake up. The officer found William sitting, slumped over, in a chair in the bedroom. William was dead.
Expert testimony established that the cause of death was shock and hemorrhage due to trauma caused by a blunt instrument. Thirty fresh wounds, many of which were head injuries, were found on the body. Ten of the wounds were of sufficient severity as to have been the cause or to have contributed to the cause, of death. Some were consistent with the type of injury inflicted by a blunt instrument similar to a baseball bat. Others could have been made by the claws of a hammer while some could have been made by the rounded head of a hammer. William had a blood alcohol level of .36 percent at the time of his death.
Prior to the arrival of Officer Hendrix on December 11th, Myrtle Mills, a friend of appellant, had found a baseball bat and a hammer
under the bed in the room in which William's body was seated. She saw another person bring a second bat from the rear of the house to the bedroom. Both bats and the hammer had been taken from the house and disposed of by other persons.
Appellant testified that when her husband
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