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People v. Kraft8/10/2000
remote and rugged nature of the terrain where Hall's body was found; the jury was thus enabled to draw its own inferences about the probability defendant was capable of committing the crime and the differences between this offense and the others with which defendant was charged. Defendant was not denied the right to present a defense. Nor has he demonstrated the trial court's ruling undermined the reliability of the death judgment that is mandated by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution.
B. Issues of Evidentiary Sufficiency
1. Sufficiency of Evidence of Murder-Crisel, Inderbieten, Klingbeil, Keith, Young, Wiebe, "John Doe Huntington Beach," Moore
Defendant contends that eight of his murder convictions, relating to the victims enumerated above, must be reversed for insufficiency of evidence. He argues that, apart from what he terms "speculative inferences" drawn from the list found in his car, modus operandi was the only evidence or theory of his guilt and, as such, could not support the verdicts.
In addressing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction, the reviewing court must examine the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence-evidence that is reasonable, credible and of solid value-such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 578.) The appellate court presumes in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence. (People v. Reilly (1970) 3 Cal.3d 421, 425; accord, People v. Pensinger (1991) 52 Cal.3d 1210, 1237.) The same standard applies when the conviction rests primarily on circumstantial evidence. (People v. Perez (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1117, 1124.) Although it is the jury's duty to acquit a defendant if it finds the circumstantial evidence susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one of which suggests guilt and the other innocence, it is the jury, not the appellate court that must be convinced of the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. (Ibid.) " `If the circumstances reasonably justify the trier of fact's findings, the opinion of the reviewing court that the circumstances might also reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding does not warrant a reversal of the judgment. [Citation.]' " (People v. Thomas (1992) 2 Cal.4th 489, 514.) Applying this standard, we explain why defendant's argument fails to persuade us reversal of any of the convictions is warranted.
a. Crisel
In the context of this case, the jury could reasonably find defendant guilty of murdering Crisel based on such features of the crime as the similarity of the drugs found in Crisel's body-high levels of antihistamines, among other drugs-to those found in the body of Loggins, to whom strong evidence linked defendant, and the presence of a burn on Crisel's left nipple made by a car cigarette lighter, a feature also shared by the Hall murder, to which defendant was linked by fingerprint evidence, as well as the Inderbieten murder. A tablet containing some of the drugs found in Crisel was found in defendant's car, which he had owned at the time of Crisel's death. The prosecutor argued that Crisel was represented on defendant's list by the entry "MARINE DRUNK OVERNIGHT SHORTS," referring to the fact that Crisel, a Marine, was clothed only in shorts when found and to the length of time it was thought defendant had kept Crisel before disposing of his body. Crisel, moreover, fit the physical profile of most of defendant's victims, being a White male of average size, and, also like most of them, Cr
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