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People v. Williams6/6/2003
Appellant Elmo Williams was convicted by jury trial of first degree murder and assault with intent to commit rape. The jury found the murder was premeditated and deliberate and found true the special circumstances allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a rape or attempted rape. (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(c).)
In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found appellant had committed three prior serious felonies within the meaning of California's Three Strikes Law and that he had committed three serious felonies within the meaning of Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a). Appellant was sentenced to life without possibility of parole plus 15 years, and he was ordered to register as a sex offender pursuant to Penal Code section 290.
Appellant and the victim were homeless individuals living near a park. On February 1, 2001, Alex Lopez observed appellant and some others in an altercation over a radio. The victim was crying and asking for help. She told Lopez that appellant was trying to kill them over the radio. Lopez called police, but when Lopez returned the group had disbursed and everyone was gone. Both the victim and appellant had been drinking.
The next morning, appellant asked employees at a restaurant to call the police because he did "something really bad." When police arrived, appellant repeated that he "had done something really bad" and said, "I think I've killed someone." He told an officer that he thought at first the victim had just passed out, but then he realized she was dead. He said he "got a little rough with her. I know I did." He then demonstrated how he had placed his hands on the victim's neck as if strangling someone. Appellant directed the police to his "camp" in the park, where the victim's body was discovered on a mattress. The body was clothed and covered with a blanket. A pocketknife was found nearby.
Appellant made further incriminating statements to police. He said, "it's all about women. I've been locked up for two rapes, one attempt and murder," "I didn't hit her until after I couldn't get her up," "we got in a tussle and I got behind her. I don't think I grabbed her too hard, but she went limp and I thought she passed out from the alcohol. I couldn't wake her up."
During a subsequent interview with Detective Heiduk, appellant said he left his radio behind while going to get beer for a group at the park, but it was missing when he returned. He was mad and confronted the group, trying to get his radio back. He said that during the argument, he scared the victim by getting "rough" and "probably did" pull a knife out. Later, when the group left, the victim stayed, and when she said she was cold, appellant took her to his camp. According to appellant, sex "started to happen" and they were "doing all right for awhile" but then the victim "started to resist." He said he "was already in" when she "pushed to get up." He held her down with his body and hands, holding his hands under her neck while she was trying to lift up, until finally she "collapsed." Later in the interview he said, "she gave in" after a while. Appellant told the detective he did not remember all that had happened. In a second interview, appellant told the detective he had in the past engaged in "rough" sex with his "old lady" during which he would choke her.
DISCUSSION
I.
There is sufficient record evidence to satisfy the corpus delecti rule with respect to the charge of murder. The physical findings of the pathologist alone were enough to establish, independent of appellant's admissions, that the victim's death was a homicide. (People v. Alvarez (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1161, 1168-1169
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