People v. Elliott CA6

I. BACKGROUND

We base our factual summary on the opinion affirming defendant’s convictions, People v. Elliott (1978) 77 Cal.App.3d 673 (Elliott).1 Defendant paid Charles Thomas to kill a jewelry dealer, Ben Rudman, so that defendant could take Rudman’s jewelry inventory. One of defendant’s other associates, Daniel Thompson, arranged to meet with Rudman under the pretense that he wanted to buy a ring. Defendant also went to the jewelry store and was there with Rudman and Thompson when the store closed at 9:30 p.m. Afterward, Rudman and three other men attempted to order dinner at a restaurant frequented by Rudman, but left after the restaurant owner told them the kitchen was closed. The restaurant owner—who was the last person to see Rudman alive— testified that one of Rudman’s companions resembled defendant. Rudman’s body was discovered a few days later in his car’s trunk. He had been shot three times. A bullet recovered from his body and another bullet recovered from the car door were determined to have been fired from a gun that Charles Thomas’s wife had purchased at defendant’s behest and which defendant had test-fired in the Thomases’ backyard. (Id. at pp. 680– 682, 684,…