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People v. Steele5/30/2002
passenger to Thurman's residence. The two got out and entered the residence. The neighbor had not seen the truck before.
Richard Blakeslee's wife, Anna, received a telephone call shortly before 10:00 p.m., the night of the killing. A voice she did not recognize identified itself as "Lee Ann" and said, "Ray wanted me to call and tell you that he's okay and he'll be home shortly." Anna gave the telephone to Richard. Richard heard a woman say something, then heard defendant's voice say, "Put the phone down or I'll kill you."
The prosecution also presented evidence that in 1971, defendant stabbed to death a 15-year-old babysitter, Deborah Cerna, for which he was convicted of second degree murder.
2. Defense Evidence
Defendant presented evidence to suggest that Thurman's boyfriend, who discovered the body, might have been the killer. But the main thrust of the defense was that he was guilty of a crime less serious than first degree murder. As appellate counsel describes it, defendant presented "a mental defense, based on psychological dysfunction brought on by traumatic experiences in the Vietnam War, and on neurological and psychological deficits resulting from head injuries."
Defendant appeared intoxicated when he came to the Circus Circus casino the day after the killing. A blood sample taken after his arrest had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 percent; when he arrived at the casino the level would have been around 0.23 percent. A witness estimated that if defendant had drunk the amount of peppermint schnapps that he claimed to have drunk the day of the killing, his blood-alcohol level at 8:00 p.m., the night of the killing, would have been around 0.28 percent.
A California Highway Patrol air traffic officer testified that the night of the killing he flew a helicopter in the area of Thurman's home, including one flight at 10:05 p.m. almost directly over her residence. Such flights were made on a daily basis.
Shad Meshad, the executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Aid Foundation in Los Angeles, testified about the trauma members of the military faced in Vietnam. Defendant was in the navy. His military records do not indicate that he experienced any combat, but they show that he had two weeks of training at a "counter-insurgency school" for "SEALS" that teaches the students to kill with knives. Meshad believed defendant may have had a temporary duty assignment involving a particularly traumatic type of combat that was not reflected in the records. Eventually, defendant received a discharge from the military that was, according to the witness, "other than honorable" because of a "civil conviction."
Dr. Harry R. Kormos, a psychiatrist, testified as an expert on "post traumatic stress disorder" (PTSD), particularly "as it applies to Vietnam veterans." Persons suffering from the disorder can experience a "flashback," and thus relive their traumatic experiences. Events such as the sound of a helicopter can trigger a flashback.
Robert Buley, director of the Shasta County Substance Abuse Clinic, testified that defendant suffered from "episodic alcoholism" and would go on drinking binges lasting from a few days to a few weeks. When Buley tried to discuss Vietnam with him, defendant would "shake" and refuse to talk about it. Dr. John Wicks, a psychologist, administered various tests to defendant and concluded he has a "brain impairment" and a "personality syndrome" consistent with brain damage which would cause "impulse control problems." Dr. Stephen Pittel, also a psychologist, testified about defendant's problems with substance abuse. Dr. Richard Sauer, a neurologist, testified that defendant's brain is sma
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