People v. Houseman CA3

BACKGROUND

A. The Murders of Donna and Katherine Roberts The Roberts family—consisting of father Lawrence, mother Katherine, and daughters Donna and Michelle—lived in Sacramento in the summer of 1986. One of Donna’s best friends, Rebecca Palanuk, stayed with them for three weeks in July and August of that summer. During that summer, Palanuk briefly dated Gary Hines. At some point during the summer, Katherine learned of Hines’s criminal record and told him “not to come around.” Notwithstanding Katherine’s request, Hines continued to visit Palanuk at the Robertses’ house on two to three occasions and, during one of these visits, Donna told him about her father’s roadster, a pink fiberglass replica of a 1923 Ford Model-T roadster. On seeing the car, Hines told Palanuk, “I am going to get [that car] one way or another.” Hines afterward “rambl[ed]” to others about the roadster, claimed it was his, and said he had to collect it from “some friends.” Defendant met Hines during this summer at a time when he was living “off and on” with Steven Tabor. On September 14, 1986, both defendant and Hines spent the night at Tabor’s house. Jaime Pyle, who was then in a “love relationship” with…