People v. Davis CA2/3

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Anthony Davis appeals his conviction for first degree murder, arising out of a 1978 cold case. He raises claims of: (1) insufficiency of evidence to support deliberate and premeditated murder, (2) improper exclusion of hearsay statements, (3) improper admission of defense counsel’s comments during a pre-arrest interview, (4) prosecutorial misconduct based on multiple comments made before the jury during the trial, and (5) cumulative error. Davis also challenges the trial court’s denial of a motion to dismiss for failure to preserve evidence and denial of presentence conduct credits. We agree that the prosecutor improperly commented on Davis’s exercise of his Fourth Amendment right when he refused to voluntarily submit a DNA sample and fingerprints. But the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We reject all other claims and affirm the judgment of conviction.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Facts 1. The Prosecution Evidence a. The incident and original investigation On January 7, 1978, at about 3:00 p.m., El Monte Police Department Officer Craig Sperry went to the Spic and Span Motel in El Monte, California. When Officer Sperry…