Marino

Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Company (hereinafter designated the Carrier) brought an action against its insured and other named defendants for a declaration that a homeowner’s policy it had issued provided no coverage for second degree murder, attempted murder, and false imprisonment committed by its insured. The court below granted summary judgment in favor of the Carrier. We reverse.

I. Background

A. Criminal Action

On October 11, 1977, the Carrier’s insured, Salvatore Marino, shot and killed Peter Catelli. He also shot and wounded Orlando Catelli, Peter’s father. Then Marino and other defendants put both Catelli bodies in the trunk of a car, drove the car to San Francisco, and there abandoned it. Orlando Catelli survived.

Marino was arrested on October 12, 1977. Charges were filed against Marino and three codefendants. Then came a series of trials and retrials. In the first trial, which began in July of 1980, two codefendants were convicted of various felonies, but the trial judge subsequently granted their motion for a new trial. Marino and the third codefendant were tried in the second trial. The jury acquitted Marino of some of the charges against him, but…