People v. Williams CA4/2

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2

The victim was killed while visiting Willie Dyas and his wife. Also at the Dyas’s

residence were defendant and his girlfriend. The cause of death was strangulation, which

was achieved by means of a belt, twisted around the victim’s neck and tied to a hammer

behind her back. Before the victim died, she was beaten on the head with the hammer.

After she died, a mascara tube was shoved up her rectum. The murder followed a

robbery, in which a small amount of money and drugs were taken from the victim. The

body was discovered in the Dyas’s residence after defendant reported the crime to his

parole officer. (People v. Dyas et al., supra, E009678.)

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

On our own motion, we take judicial notice of the nonpublished opinion in defendant’s original judgment. (People v. Dyas et al. (Jan. 12, 1993, E009678) [nonpub. opn.]; see Evid. Code, § 459.) We derive much of our factual recitation from the opinion in that matter.

2 Defendant admitted in an interview that he had tied the ankles of the victim and

described the manner in which he had done so. (People v.…