People v. Inman

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree.

In an information filed in Los Angeles on December 28, 1967, Glen Leroy Deffenbaugh and Randy Ray Inman (hereafter sometimes referred to as defendant or appellant) were charged with murdering Frank Pesqueira on December 6, 1967. Upon motion of the People the causes were severed for trial. Inman went to trial before a jury and was found guilty of murder in the first degree. As to the penalty all parties waived a jury trial, and it was stipulated that the court could determine the issue of the penalty on the evidence previously received in the case. The court determined that the penalty be life imprisonment. Probation was denied and Inman was sentenced to the state prison for the term " of his natural life. ’ ’ A timely notice of appeal was filed.

A résumé of some of the facts is as follows: at about 2 a.m. on December 6, 1967, James Plemmons, the bartender at Pete Pogi’s Bar. on Washington Boulevard in Culver City was peparing to close the place. Frank Pesqueira, Pamela Meyer and James Dudley were preparing to leave the establishment. Pesqueira said, “Goodnight” and walked toward the front door. Plemmons turned toward the cash register and Meyer watched Pesqueira walk to the door. Pesqueira passed through a curtain, placed his hand on the door and stepped back to open it. There was a commotion and a gunshot was heard. Pesqueira fell back through the open door and dropped to the floor. Deffenbaugh, a thin man of medium height, with a hood on his head and a gun in his hand stated, “Everybody lay down, this is a hold-up ” Plemmons, Meyer and Dudley each saw Inman, a heavy-set person wearing a white mask step into the doorway and stop at the curtains. As Deffenbaugh forced one of the customers to the floor, Plemmons reached for a gun at the cash register and started to shoot at Deffenbaugh. The bartender fired five shots at Deffenbaugh and apparently hit him twice. Deffenbaugh went out of the establishment in a crawling fashion. Plemmons went to the front door, saw Pesqueira who was dead from a gunshot wound which had punctured his heart and right lung.

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Officers Dalven and Brann were in a patrol car and heard gun fire: they proceeded westerly on Washington Boulevard where they saw a man running in a westerly direction from the Pogi bar followed by another man whom they saw coming out of the bar. One of the men was wearing a dark jacket and had dark hair. Dalven saw one of the men run down Washington Boulevard and turn south onto Grandview Street. The officers called over the police radio for police assistance and an ambulance as they drove to Grandview Street where they got out of the police car. Brann walked a short distance down Grandview Street and checked some vehicles and looked between the houses. Brann then saw a man come from between some of the houses along a fence. He was walking in a stooped-over position near some bushes about 3 feet in height. From a distance of about 50 feet Brann called out: “Police Officer; come out of there with your hands up or I will shoot.” The statement was repeated and then a shot was fired into the air. Other officers arrived and Inman was pulled from out of the bushes. He was wearing a dark blue jacket and levis but no shirt. Inman is about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs between 180 and 190 pounds. He was arrested and advised and warned of his constitutional rights by Dalven. Inman apparently understood his rights. He was handcuffed and walked to the police car. After he was placed in the patrol car he voluntarily and freely conversed with Dalven for about five minutes.