People v. Watters

COUGHLIN, J. By indictment, the defendant Watters and a codefendant named La Vergne were charged with the offenses of murder, robbery and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury; all involved the same victim; and all occurring on January 7, 1965. The codefend[156]ant LaVergne was tried separately; was found guilty of all offenses; and, pursuant to the verdict on the penalty phase of the murder charge, was sentenced to death. His conviction and the judgment imposing sentences, including that of death, were affirmed on appeal. (People v. La Vergne, 64 Cal.2d 265 [49 Cal.Rptr. 557, 411 P.2d 309].) The defendant Watters had left the State of California immediately following the events charged as offenses; went to Rochester, New York; was arrested at the latter place; at a hearing before the court in that state waived extradition; and was returned to California for trial. Subsequently, by an amended indictment, defendant was charged with murder, kidnaping for the purpose of robbery, and robbery; was found guilty of murder in the first degree, kidnaping with intent to rob and with infliction of bodily harm upon the victim, and robbery in the first degree; on the penalty phase, the jury fixed the punishment on the murder count as imprisonment for life and on the kidnaping count as imprisonment for life without possibility of parole. Judgment was pronounced, and defendant appealed.

Pertinent facts applicable to the case at bench are summarized in the opinion of People v. La Vergne, supra, 64 Cal.2d 265, 267, as follows: “At approximately 5 a.m. on January 7, 1965 Peter Giacalone, a Los Angeles cab driver, was beaten and strangled to death by two men in an alley in Imperial Beach. In the vicinity of his cab, which was parked near the alley, were found a cigarette lighter, a pair of sunglasses, later identified as belonging to Watters, a hat later identified as belonging to defendant, and some loose $1.00 and $5.00 bills. The trip sheet in the cab showed $14.50 in fares since the commencement of Giacalone’s shift, but no money was found on his body and the wallet was not located. Quantities of blood were on the cab and the ground near it. ”

The cause of the victim’s death was manual strangulation. About his neck, when found by the officers, was Watters’ belt. Trousers worn by Watters on the night of the murder bore bloodstains.

Preceding the murder Watters and LaVergne got into the victim’s cab in Los Angeles; caused the victim to get into the back seat, where he remained with Watters while La Yergne drove the cab to San Diego; made two stops on the way from Los Angeles to San Diego; and drove through San Diego to Imperial Beach where the murder occurred.