People v. Bloom

12 Cal.5th 1008

508 P.3d 737

292 Cal.Rptr.3d 769

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Robert Maurice BLOOM, Defendant and Appellant.

S095223

Supreme Court of California.

April 21, 2022

Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, Jeannie R. Sternberg, Deputy State Public Defender; and William T. Lowe, San Francisco, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette and Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Michael R. Johnsen and Jaime L. Fuster, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Opinion of the Court by Kruger, J.

After a federal court vacated his earlier conviction and sentence, defendant Robert Maurice Bloom was retried and convicted of the first degree murder of his father and the second degree murders of his stepmother and stepsister. The jury on retrial also found true a multiple-murder special-circumstance finding and various firearm- and weapon-use findings. ( Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 190.2, subd. (a)(3), 1203.06, subd. (a)(1), 12022, subd. (b), 12022.5, subd. (a).) Bloom was sentenced to death. This appeal is automatic. (Id. , § 1239, subd. (b).)

We now affirm the judgment in part and reverse in part. At trial, defense counsel conceded Bloom's responsibility for the deaths of all three victims in an effort to pursue a mental capacity defense to the murder charges. Bloom, however, was willing to accept responsibility only for the killing of his father and expressly objected to admitting responsibility for the deaths of the other two victims. In conceding responsibility for these victims against Bloom's wishes, defense counsel violated Bloom's Sixth Amendment right to choose the fundamental objectives of his defense under McCoy v. Louisiana (2018) 584 U.S. ––––, 138 S.Ct. 1500, 200 L.Ed.2d 821. The error does not affect Bloom's conviction for the murder of his father or the associated firearm-use finding. But the error requires us to reverse the rest of the judgment, including the second degree murder convictions relating to the other two victims, the multiple-murder special-circumstance finding, and ultimately the judgment of death. The People may retry Bloom on the relevant counts and associated enhancement and special circumstance allegations if they so choose.

I. FACTS

Bloom was charged with and convicted of the murders of his father, Robert Bloom, Sr.; his stepmother, Josephine Bloom; and his eight-year-old stepsister, Sandra Hughes. In an earlier automatic appeal, we affirmed Bloom's conviction and death sentence. ( People v. Bloom (1989) 48 Cal.3d 1194, 259 Cal.Rptr. 669, 774 P.2d 698.) A federal court then granted habeas relief on the ground that Bloom's trial counsel had rendered ineffective assistance in the investigation and presentation of mental health evidence. ( Bloom v. Calderon (9th Cir. 1997) 132 F.3d 1267.) This case now returns to us following Bloom's retrial for the murders.

On retrial, Bloom entered alternative pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury found Bloom guilty of the first degree murder of his father and an associated firearm allegation but reported that it was unable to reach verdicts on the remaining counts. The prosecution then dismissed the allegations in support of first degree murder on the other two murder counts, and the jury found Bloom guilty of second degree murder as to each count. It also found true associated firearm-use and weapon-use allegations and a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation.

After the jury returned a guilty verdict, the court held a sanity trial. The jury found Bloom sane as to the first degree murder but was unable to reach a verdict as to the two second degree murders. Defendant then withdrew his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and proceeded to a penalty trial, at which he represented himself. The jury returned a death verdict and the court entered judgment accordingly.

A. Guilt Phase Evidence

1. Prosecution case

In 1982, Robert Bloom, Sr., his wife, Josephine (whose given name was Lucille), and her eight-year-old daughter, Sandra Hughes (also known as Sandy), lived in a house on Sancola Avenue in Sun Valley. Bloom, 18 years old at the time, stayed at the house off and on.

The murders occurred during the early morning on April 22, 1982. One witness, Dave Hughes, had been asleep with his girlfriend in a van parked in the driveway of his parents’ house, which was next door to the Bloom residence. After being awakened by the sound of a toilet flushing in his parents’ house, Hughes heard two people arguing outside his van. Looking out the van's rear window, he saw Bloom, Sr., on his front lawn and Bloom standing in the street. Bloom, Sr., was "hollering" at Bloom in an "angry[,] pleading" voice to "come back." Bloom, Sr., then chased after Bloom, who had taken off running down the street. A few minutes later, Bloom, Sr., and Bloom returned together. The two men entered the Bloom residence.

Hughes tried to go back to sleep but heard more arguing outside his van. Looking out again, he saw Bloom heading off in the opposite direction from the one he had previously taken, while Bloom, Sr., stood in his yard, again telling Bloom to come back. A minute or two later, Hughes heard a shot that sounded like a .22- or .25-caliber gun. Bloom, Sr., clutched his midsection, started jumping up and down and screaming, and ran toward his house. Bloom came running, pointing a rifle at Bloom, Sr. Hughes heard two more gunshots, followed by the sound of glass breaking. Bloom, Sr., fell onto the front porch. Bloom approached and pointed a rifle at his father. Hughes heard two more shots.

Bloom ran into the house and Josephine began screaming. After two gunshots, the screaming stopped. Between 30 seconds and a minute later, there was another shot. Hughes got out of the van and entered his parents’ house to call 9-1-1, then went back to the van to get his girlfriend. As he came around the side of his parents’ house, he saw Bloom standing in the dining room window of the Bloom residence "messing" with his rifle. Bloom put down the gun and stared out the window. Hughes saw Bloom leave the house, put the rifle in Josephine's car, and drive away. Police arrived within five minutes.

Another witness, Moises Gameros, was living on Sancola Avenue across the street and a few doors up from the Bloom residence. Gameros woke up in the early morning hours on April 22 and heard someone repeatedly yelling "Robert." Looking out his window, Gameros saw Bloom, Sr., and Bloom walking down Sancola Avenue. Bloom was holding a rifle. Standing outside Gameros's living room window, Bloom, Sr., said, "That's it, I'm gonna call the cops," and walked back toward his house. Bloom followed and tried to enter the house after him. It appeared to Gameros that Bloom, Sr., tried to grab the rifle from Bloom from within the house. Bloom then ran from the house, with Bloom, Sr., chasing him, past Gameros's field of vision. Gameros heard a shot and heard Bloom, Sr., screaming. Bloom, Sr., turned and ran toward his house; Bloom shot him again. Bloom, Sr., reached the front stairs to his house and fell. From his vantage point, Gameros could no longer see Bloom, Sr., but he saw Bloom point the rifle downward and shoot once more. Bloom stood in the doorway for about a minute, manipulating the rifle, and then entered the house. Gameros heard nothing further. After about 10 minutes, Bloom emerged from the house with the rifle, got into a car, and drove away.

Sergeant Joseph Dvorak of the Los Angeles Police Department was the first to respond to the scene. He found Bloom, Sr., in the front doorway and Josephine in a hallway or bedroom. Both were dead. Sandra was found in a different bedroom, alive but seriously injured. After an ambulance arrived and took the child, Dvorak secured the crime scene. Sergeant Michael McKean of the Los Angeles Police Department arrived about 4:15 a.m. Along with two other police cars, he drove to the home of Bloom's girlfriend, accompanied by a neighbor who knew its location. The neighbor saw Bloom walking westbound on Nettleton Avenue, two and a half to three miles from the Sancola residence, and pointed him out. Officers arrested him. Later that day, McKean located Josephine's car parked on the street a mile and a half to two miles from where Bloom was arrested.

A later autopsy determined that Bloom, Sr., had died of gunshot wounds to the abdomen, neck, and cheek. Josephine suffered three fatal gunshot wounds to the head. Sandra sustained a graze wound to the right shoulder and a gunshot wound to the head that led to her death after time spent on a respirator. She also suffered 23 stab and cutting wounds to the head, neck, right arm, torso, and back, as well as superficial wounds to the inside of her left wrist and forefinger, all inflicted by a pointed instrument such as a pair of scissors. From the nature of the stab wounds, it appeared Sandra was moving around when they were inflicted; she was shot after being stabbed and cut. Toxicology reports on Bloom, Sr., and Josephine were both negative for drugs and alcohol.

Various witnesses testified about events occurring in the days preceding the killings. Martin Medrano, an acquaintance of Bloom's who testified at the first trial, was deceased by the time of the retrial; his prior testimony was read to the retrial jury. In April 1982, Bloom said he had a contract to kill someone and offered Medrano $1,200 to get him a gun. Medrano, a drug addict who was on parole, said he intended to take Bloom's money but not give him a gun. Bloom approached Medrano several more times. Medrano asked if he had the money; Bloom told Medrano he would get it and that Medrano would read about the killing. At the time Medrano testified, he was in custody for armed robbery. He had seen Bloom in jail and reported his earlier...