People v. Hankey

Opinion

GATES, J.

Quincy Hankey appeals from the judgment entered following a court trial in which he was convicted of first degree murder with the use of a firearm. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 12022.5.) He contends: “I. Appellant did not personally use a firearm within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022.5, and the two year enhancement of his sentence must be stricken. II. Appellant’s sentence of 25 years to life constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the circumstances of this case, and his sentence should be reduced to 15 years to life.”

Viewing the evidence in accordance with the usual rules on appeal

(People

v.

Barnes

(1986) 42 Cal.3d 284, 303 [228 Cal.Rptr. 228, 721 P.2d 110]),

[512]

it was established that between the hours of 1:30 and 2 a.m. on June 13, 1987, Richard White, a bus driver, saw two men hitting and kicking a woman at the corner of Compton Boulevard and Oleander Street in Compton. They pulled her by her hair into a parking lot toward a car, where a third man drew a gun and opened the car door. White then left the scene to call for help. He was unable to identify the man with the gun.

Shortly thereafter Los Angeles Police Officer John Swanson found the woman’s body in the middle of Oleander Street. The coroner’s report indicated the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the upper body. There were actually two distinct injuries but it was possible they had both been inflicted by a single bullet, i.e., the fatal one was described as having been caused by a bullet that had entered the victim’s left upper back and exited through the right side of her skull, while the other was a through and through wound to her right upper arm.

During an interview with Officer Swanson which was reduced to writing and signed by appellant, appellant admitted his involvement in the crime, but claimed he had not shot the victim. He asserted he and three friends, including codefendant George Davis, Jr., set out to commit a robbery and that he and Davis were armed with handguns.