Schoenfeld

Just over four years ago the peace and quiet of the small rural community of Chowchilla was shattered by the disappearance of a busload of local school children. News of the disappearance stunned the people of the entire state, and bewilderment soon gave way to consternation when the empty school bus was discovered in a dry creek bed without a trace of its passengers. The hours of suspense dragged on amid feelings of growing apprehension. The silent agony of the victims’ families and friends ended, mercifully, the following evening when, as a result of the heroic efforts of the bus driver, the youngsters emerged safely from their underground imprisonment. Following defendants’ arrest, indictment and after extensive pretrial proceedings, each defendant pled guilty to 27 separate counts of kidnaping for ransom (Pen. Code, § 209) and received concurrent sentences óf life imprisonment on each count. In three of the counts, the victims were found to have suffered “bodily harm” resulting in a determination of parole ineligibility. Defendants’ principal claim of reversible error focuses on the validity of those findings. Since we determine that the challenged findings are…

I concur in the views so ably expressed in Justice Racanelli’s opinion. I would like to add, if only by way of emphasis, my view of why the conclusion we reach is the only one possible under the circumstances.

The central question before us is one of law. It is a question easily framed. Were the injuries to the victims Brown, Heffington and Reynolds, “bodily harm” within Penal Code section 209, justifying the imposition on two defendants of the penalty of life without parole? In passing upon that question we are not, as the dissent suggests, reweighing evidence or in any fashion invading the province of the trier of fact; rather, we are assessing whether, accepting the facts the trier found to be true, that evidence as a legal proposition establishes the physical injuries required for the impositon of life without parole.

These injuries have been described elsewhere in detail; they consist of a nosebleed (caused the victim by a kick from another child), fainting spells, nausea and stomachache. 1

The surrounding emotional distress inflicted on the victims, obviously immeasurably more painful and damaging than these physical injuries injuries, has, of course, (because the…

Just over four years ago the peace and quiet of the small rural community of Chowchilla was shattered by the disappearance of a busload of local school children. News of the disappearance stunned the people of the entire state, and bewilderment soon gave way to consternation when the empty school bus was discovered in a dry creek bed without a trace of its passengers. The hours of suspense dragged on amid feelings of growing apprehension. The silent agony of the victims' families and friends ended, mercifully, the following evening when, as a result of the heroic efforts of the bus driver, the youngsters emerged safely from their underground imprisonment. Following defendants' arrest, indictment and after extensive pretrial proceedings, each defendant pled guilty to 27 separate counts of kidnaping for ransom (Pen. Code, § 209) and received concurrent sentences of life imprisonment on each count. In three of the counts, the victims were found to have suffered "bodily harm" resulting in a determination of parole ineligibility. Defendants' principal claim of reversible error focuses on the validity of those findings. Since we determine that the challenged…