People v. Bentley

TRAYNOR, J.

By information defendants Bentley, Waldo, and Chappie were charged with the crimes of armed robbery (Pen. Code, § 211a), conspiracy to commit armed robbery (Pen. Code, § 182), and murder (Pen. Code, § 187). They all pleaded not guilty. Bentley also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Thereafter Waldo and Bentley withdrew their pleas of not guilty and pleaded guilty. The trial court determined that the murder was of the first degree on the ground that it was committed in the perpetration of robbery. (Pen. Code, § 189.) Neither court nor counsel interpreted Bentley’s plea of guilty as withdrawing his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. (Of. Pen. Code, § 1016.) On that plea, a jury determined that Bentley was sane. At the trial on the issue of penalty, a second jury fixed his penalty at death and Waldo’s penalty at life imprisonment. The trial court denied Bentley’s motion for reduction of the penalty or for a new trial on the issue of penalty and entered judgment imposing the death penalty. In a separate trial, a jury found Chappie guilty of first degree murder and of the other crimes charged. The issue of penalty was submitted to the court, which fixed his penalty at life imprisonment. Bentley’s appeal is automatic. (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b).)

On the evening of May 22, 1961, pursuant to a plan to commit a robbery, Chappie drove Bentley and Waldo from Chappie’s home to a liquor store in Fresno. Chappie’s wife and small daughter went along. Chappie parked the car behind the store. Bentley and Waldo got out and approached the proprietor at the front door of his store as he was closing it for the night. Bentley fired two shots. One struck the proprietor in the chest and abdomen causing him to fall. Waldo then shot him in the head. The wounds were fatal. Waldo and Bentley took money and liquor and returned to the waiting ear. After abandoning a plan to rob another liquor store because too many people were present, they returned to the Chappie home. The day before the murder, Chappie, accompanied by his wife and child, drove Waldo and Bentley to a

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liquor store in Modesto where they committed a similar robbery but did not kill the victim. After the murder, Waldo and Bentley went to Arizona.

A careful review of the record establishes that the trial was conducted with scrupulous regard for defendants’ rights, Bentley’s sole contention on appeal is that the trial court committed prejudicial error in admitting evidence of a criminal venture by him and Waldo in Arizona about a month after the murder. He contends that this evidence was inadmissible on the grounds that it related to crimes committed outside the state after the crime for which the penalty was being determined and that its probative value was outweighed by its prejudicial effect.