People v. Salas

500 P.2d 7 (1972)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D entered the Hub Bar in Sacramento and asked the bartender, Finnegan, for a six-pack of beer and pointed a pistol at him. Wright, a customer, and Schwab, an insurance salesman who entered the bar at this moment, were ordered to lie down on the floor at the back of the barroom. D then ordered Finnegan to deliver all the money in the bar's cash register. D took the bank bag, ordered Finnegan to lie down near the other men, told them not to move or he would shoot them and backed out of the front door. Damion, the getaway driver drove away after D entered the vehicle on the passenger's side of the front seat. Deputy George O'Neal received a radio broadcast advising that the Hub Bar had just been robbed. He immediately drove his patrol car three-tenths of a mile to an intersection 1.2 miles from the bar. He knew that this intersection was on a route frequently used by robbers in making escapes from the general area. He saw an approaching car with two men who appeared to be of Mexican descent. The deputy followed the car and was then advised by radio that the suspect was a 'male Mexican.' The deputy activated the red light and siren of the police vehicle and the suspects eventually stopped their vehicle. Neither suspect responded to the demand to leave the car with their hands up. The deputy reached for his shotgun. Damion opened the door on the driver's side of his car and fled on foot into an open field. D did not respond to the officer's further demands. Deputy Royal arrived in his patrol car. Royal drew his service revolver and walked toward the car on the driver's side. O'Neal heard shots fired and saw Royal fall to the ground. D emerged from the car on the passenger's side with a gun in his hand. O'Neal fired his shotgun at D. D fell to the ground and then arose. Royal fired his revolver, and O'Neal fired his shotgun a second time. D fell to the ground, but once more got up and continued down the road away from the deputies. D fell to the ground again and was then apprehended by another officer who had arrived at the scene. Royal died of a single gunshot wound in the neck. Finnegan and Schwab testified that D did not sway, stagger, slur his words, or in any other way appear to be drunk. D testified that he was 'pretty well drunk' on the night of the killing. D claimed that after Damion fled from the car he saw a police officer with a gun pointed at his face and that he saw a flame from the officer's gun and felt something hot on his face. He further claimed that he did not recall shooting his gun and that he did not intend to shoot the officer. He admitted that he committed the robbery, and he had a clear recollection of most of the details of that crime. Three hours later, D had a blood alcohol content of .23 percent. A criminologist testified that the judgment and memory of a person with a blood alcohol level of about .25 percent would be impaired. A psychiatrist testified that D's mental capacity had been reduced by his intoxicated state to the extent that 'there is considerable doubt that he had sufficient capacity to premediate and deliberate' at the time of the crimes. D was indicted for felony murder. At trial, D, in part, made the contention that the robbery had been completed prior to the time of and at a different place than the killing; that the homicide, therefore, could not have been committed in the course of the robbery within the felony-murder rule and that it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury on such rule. After retiring to deliberate, the jury returned to the court requesting further instructions on murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, and the law applying to 'zone of danger,' that is, how long a felony continues in progress. Two jurors requested that the court define 'scrambling.' It refused. The jury returned a few hours later and asked the instructions be reread several times enabling the jurors to write them down. The next morning the jury delivered a guilty verdict. D appealed.