People v. Cockrell CA2/6

Filed 3/4/14 P. v. Cockrell CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B241567 (Super. Ct. No. F415411) Plaintiff and Respondent, (San Luis Obispo County)

v.

KENNETH LEROY COCKRELL,

Defendant and Appellant.

Kenneth Leroy Cockrell, Jr. appeals from the judgment entered following his conviction of the first degree murder of his wife. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189.)1 Appellant originally pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. He later withdrew the not guilty plea and admitted that he had personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and had proximately caused the death of a 66- year-old elder. (§ 368, subd. (b)(3)(A).) A court trial was conducted on appellant's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The court found that appellant was sane at the time of the commission of the crime. Appellant, who is presently 70 years old, was sentenced to prison for 26 years to life. Appellant contends that the trial court applied an erroneous standard of insanity and that "the evidence contrary to the trial court's finding that appellant was sane was of

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

such weight and character, that the trial court could not reasonably have rejected it." We affirm. Facts Appellant "was a very religious person." He was married to Margaret L., the grandmother of Michael L. Appellant was Michael L.'s step-grandfather. In 2006 when Michael L. was 16 years old, he told his grandmother and appellant that he was gay. Appellant became very angry. Michael L. testified that appellant had said "it was a sin, that I was going to go to hell, I'll never live a normal life." Michael L. and appellant argued for more than two hours. After the argument, Michael L. saw appellant "only a few times." When they met, they did not talk to each other. "We pretended like we didn't exist." Michael L. kept in regular contact with his grandmother. On Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008, appellant killed his wife (Margaret L.) by hitting her in the head with a hammer while she was sleeping. Afterwards, appellant went to the police station and said that he had killed his wife. The police found wife's body lying on a bed inside the master bedroom of appellant's home. She "had a massive head injury and there was blood all over the bed." The police had to force entry into the master bedroom because the bedroom door was locked. Appellant had locked the door after the killing. The following day, Officer Matt Aanerud interviewed appellant. Appellant said that his step-grandson, Michael L., was "trying to introduce homosexual doctrine." Appellant hoped that by killing his wife, he would cure Michael of his homosexuality and cure "society" as well. Officer Aanerud asked: "This happened because you're trying to cure not only Michael but other people that are like him also and by doing that you had to kill your wife so that . . . they could see how serious you are. Is . . . that correct?" Appellant replied: "Yes. That it's serious, not only how serious I am but how serious it is." Officer Aanerud inquired, "Is there anything else that you can think of that would help me understand what happened . . . yesterday?" Appellant answered: "I don't think I could put any more understanding to it." Officer Annerud asked: "What would God ask you to do?"