People v. Anderson

28 Cal.4th 767 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Anderson (D) was charged with kidnapping and murdering Margaret Armstrong in a camp area near Eureka called the South Jetty. D and others suspected the victim of molesting two girls who resided in the camp. Ron Kiern, the father of one of the girls, pleaded guilty to Armstrong’s second-degree murder and testified at D’s trial. The evidence showed that a group of people, including D and Kiern, confronted Armstrong at the camp. Members of the group dragged Armstrong to a nearby field, beat her, put duct tape over her mouth, tied her naked to a bush, and abandoned her. Later, D and Kiern, in Kiern’s car, saw Armstrong going naked down the street away from the jetty. The two grabbed Armstrong, forced her into the car, and drove away. They then put Armstrong into a sleeping bag, wrapped the bag with duct tape, and placed her, screaming, into the trunk of Kiern’s car. D then picked up a large rock, brought it to the trunk, and handed it to Kiern. Kiern appeared to hit Armstrong with the rock, silencing her. Kiern testified that D said Armstrong had to die. After they put her into the trunk, D dropped a small boulder onto her head. Kiern also said that D picked up the rock again, handed it to Kiern, and told him to drop it on Armstrong or something would happen to his family. Kiern dropped the rock but believed it missed Armstrong. Kiern and D later commented to others that Armstrong was dead. D and Kiern disposed of Armstrong’s body by rolling it down a ravine. One witness testified that Kiern stated he had stepped on her neck until it crunched to ensure she was dead before putting her in the ravine. The body was never found. D testified that he had tried to convince Kiern to take Armstrong to the hospital after she had been beaten. When he and Kiern saw her going down the road beaten and naked, Kiern grabbed her and put her in the backseat of the car. Back at camp, Kiern put Armstrong in the sleeping bag and bound it with duct tape. At Kiern’s instruction, D opened the trunk, and Kiern put Armstrong inside. Kiern told D to retrieve a certain rock the size of a cantaloupe. D said, “Man, you are out of your mind for something like that.” Kiern responded, “Give me the rock or I’ll beat the shit out of you.” D gave him the rock because Kiern was bigger than he and he was “not in shape” to fight. When asked what he thought Kiern would have done if he had said no, D replied: “Punch me out, break my back, break my neck. Who knows.” Kiern hit Armstrong over the head with the rock two or three times. Kiern’s wife was standing there yelling, “Kill the bitch.” D testified that later they left in Kiern’s car. They pulled over, and Kiern opened the trunk. Armstrong was still moaning and moving around. D tried to convince Kiern to take her to a hospital, but Kiern refused. D got back into the car. A few minutes later, Kiern closed the trunk, got in the car, and said, “She’s dead now. I stomped on her neck and broke it.” D was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping. Based primarily on his testimony that Kiern threatened to “beat the shit out of” him, D contends on appeal that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on duress as a defense to the murder charge. The Court of Appeal concluded that duress is not a defense to first-degree murder and affirmed the judgment.