People v. Shelton CA1/4

BACKGROUND

The Ninth Circuit recounted the facts of the “brutal kidnapping and murder of Kevin Thorpe and Laura Craig in 1981” in some detail. (Shelton I, supra, 796 F.3d at pp. 1077– 1083.) As we noted in defendant’s earlier post-conviction appeal in connection with a parole decision, “[t]he basic facts are undisputed.” (People v. Shelton (Dec. 14, 2016, A147754)

3 [nonpub. opn.] (Shelton II); Shelton I, supra, 796 F.3d at p. 1078 [“Most of the basic facts are undisputed.”].) Relying chiefly on the account of the crimes in our earlier opinion and the Ninth Circuit’s decision, we summarize the pertinent facts without relying on any testimony from Norman Thomas. “In January 1981, Thorpe and Craig stopped in Madeline, California on their way to college. Shelton, along with [Norman] Thomas and Benjamin Silva, spotted the couple at a gas station and subsequently abducted them. They took Thorpe and Craig to Shelton’s cabin outside of the town. Thorpe was chained to a tree, and Craig was held inside the cabin. The day after the abduction, Thorpe was shot to death with a machine gun. Thomas dismembered Thorpe’s body, and he and Silva disposed of it in a remote location. Craig was kept…