People v. Mitchell CA5

INTRODUCTION

Following a jury trial in September 2012, Dee Walter Mitchell, Jr., was found guilty of the first degree murder of Martin Ham under Penal Code section 187,

subdivision (a),1 and attempted robbery under sections 211 and 664. The jury also found true that Mitchell personally discharged a firearm, causing Ham’s death, under section 12022.53, subdivision (d), and that the homicide came within the robbery special circumstance described in section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17)(A). He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Before trial, Mitchell’s codefendant, Lavell Whitfield, negotiated an agreement with the prosecution for a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter and other offenses with a sentence of 13 years eight months, in return for testifying against Mitchell. Mitchell moved for a new trial, inter alia, based on newly discovered evidence that indicated another person was Ham’s murderer and that Mitchell was not involved in the shooting. The new evidence, a letter which Mitchell received from a Stephen Johnson, indicated that a Deshawn Woody had confessed to shooting Ham and told Johnson that Mitchell “didn’t shoot” and was not present with Woody and…