People v. Erving CA2/5

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts3

A. The underlying crimes On the evening of June 30, 1976, Lillian Pixley (Pixley) put her elderly sister Grace Ella Parent (Parent) to bed. All of the

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered section 1172.6, with no change in text (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10). We therefore refer to the law formerly codified at section 1170.95 as section 1172.6.

We summarize these facts from the transcripts of the preliminary hearing conducted on August 24 and 25, 1976.

2 lights were turned off and the drapes were closed. At approximately 4:30 a.m. the following morning, a newspaper delivery person saw that the drapes were open, a light was on in Parent’s apartment, and a porch light that was usually on was off. When Pixley awoke and checked on her sister the next morning, Parent had a two-and-a-half inch slit on the left side of her neck and several stab wounds to the abdomen and liver. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Later that same morning, Pixley’s neighbor—Ralph Webb (Webb)—awoke to find a hole in his back…