RDC005133

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• expression écrite

CASE 389-2006 Officer 2 TESTIMONY JUDICIAL BRANCH. Guatemala, C.A. In the city of Guatemala, on April twenty-eighth, two thousand nine, at nine a.m., the time and day set for this hearing before the Justices of the First Court of Administrative Litigations: Pio Alberto Uclés González, Esq., President, Eric Edilberto Meza Duarte, Esq., Member number one, Oscar Rafael Padilla Lara, Esq.

• domicile at dieciséis calle doce veinticuatro
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• domicile
• government contracting law
• domicile at décima calle cero guión cero dos
• legal department
• result
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• question

Sujets

• Exposé
• Posner
• Casa de Estuardo
• Carrasco
• Aldana
• Padilla

Informations

• Publié par: irma
• Nombre de lectures: 36
• Langue: English

Extrait

Filed 12/19/11



IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA



THE PEOPLE, )
)
Plaintiff and Respondent, )
) S082915
v. )
)
SUSAN DIANNE EUBANKS, )
) San Diego County
Defendant and Appellant. ) Super. Ct. No. SCN 069937
____________________________________)

On October 26, 1997, defendant Susan Dianne Eubanks shot and killed her
four young children. When they died, the children, Brandon, Austin, Brigham,
and Matthew, were, respectively, ages 14, seven, six, and four. A jury found
1defendant guilty of four counts of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187). The
jury found true as to each murder the special circumstance allegation that
defendant had committed multiple murders (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)). The jury also
found that defendant personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5, former subd. (a)(1), as
amended by Stats. 1995, ch. 377, § 9, p. 1950; see new § 12022.5, subd. (a)) in the
commission of the murders. After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of
death. The trial court denied defendant‟s motion to modify the penalty verdict
(§ 190.4, subd. (e)), and imposed a determinate term of four years for each of the

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise
indicated.
1 gun use enhancements. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm
the judgment.
I. FACTS
A. Guilt Phase
At the time defendant killed her children, she had been living with them,
her boyfriend Rene Dodson, and her nephew in a small home in San Marcos.
Defendant and her first husband, John Armstrong, had one son, Brandon.
2Following her divorce from Armstrong, defendant married Eric Eubanks. She
was pregnant at that time with Austin, the child of Larry Shoebridge, with whom
she had been living. Eric fathered two of defendant‟s sons, Brigham and Matthew.
After defendant‟s brother died, defendant obtained custody of her nephew.
Each son had been shot in the head by the same five-shot .38-caliber
revolver; at the time of their deaths, Austin and Brigham had 0.02 micrograms of
Xanax in their blood, while Brandon and Matthew had none.
In the living room, defendant had put the revolver to the temple of 14-year-
old Brandon and shot him; she also shot him in the neck from a few inches away.
She shot her younger sons in their bedroom. With the revolver no more than a
foot from Austin‟s head, she shot her seven-year-old son near his left eye. With
the gun inches from Brigham‟s head, she shot her six-year-old son twice, once
above his left ear and once close to his right ear. With the gun close to the head
of four-year-old Matthew, she shot him in the top of the head, leaving stippling
marks on his face. She fired other bullets in the bedroom that hit a wall and a
window. At some point in that bedroom, defendant opened the revolver‟s

2 Because defendant and Eric Eubanks share the same last name, we refer to
Eric Eubanks by his first name throughout this opinion.
2 cylinder, removed the five expended shell casings, put them in a trash can, and
reloaded the five-shot revolver.
Defendant shot herself in the abdomen with that same revolver. Her six-
year-old nephew was home at the time of the shootings. He was found unharmed,
in bed, with blankets pulled up to his chin.
Deputies who entered the home shortly after the shooting found five notes
on defendant‟s bedroom floor, all in defendant‟s handwriting. One was to Eric.
Defendant wrote, “You betrayed me. You kept a diary, and you and Rene Dodson
conspired against me.” She added, “I‟ve lost everyone I‟ve ever loved. Now it‟s
time for you to do the same.” She said he could use any money from her worker‟s
disability case to “bury the kids and find your rainbow. Anna May, I‟m sure.” In
a note to Dodson, defendant wrote he was “the biggest liar to date that I know.
Stay on crystal meth and let your 37-year-old ass move back with Mom and Dad.
Get back with Pam and/or Sherri. They‟re your class.” It concluded, “See ya . . .
Ha, ha.” A third letter was to Brandon‟s father. It said, “I know you‟ll hate me
forever, but I can‟t let [Brandon] live without his brothers, so I did what I did.”
She wrote she had been “strong for 25 years, and I‟m tired of all the fight and
hurt.” She ended the note by complaining that Dodson “fucked me all up.”
Defendant also wrote to her niece and her sister, apologizing for her actions. To
the niece, defendant explained, “I know what I‟m doing is going to hurt you
tremendously, but I can‟t and have no desire to go on.” To her sister, defendant
wrote she was “tired of being strong,” that “things are way out of hand.”
Defendant included Matthew‟s birth date and hers and asked her sister to ensure
that the two of them would be “in the same casket.”
Besides the evidence of the crimes themselves and the above described
notes, the prosecution presented the following evidence regarding events that
preceded the crimes.
3 The Eubanks marriage had appeared stable until defendant experienced job-
related injuries that required surgery. She then began to abuse prescription
medications and alcohol, she lost her job, and she and her husband Eric began a
recurring pattern of separation and reconciliation. The police found more than 50
bottles of prescription medications in defendant‟s house after the murders.
3In the fall of 1997, the Eubankses were going through a divorce, and Eric
moved out of their South Twin Oaks home about one month before the murders.
Defendant and Rene Dodson had had an intimate relationship on and off since
they met in 1994. Dodson moved into defendant‟s house after Eric moved out.
From October 13 to 19, Dodson left defendant‟s house, and Eric moved back in.
A short time later, Eric moved out, and Dodson returned.
About 10 days before the murders, defendant purchased replacement dead
bolt locks for her house. Appearing angry, she told a clerk who knew Dodson that
he had broken the lock on her door, and she was buying new ones so he could not
enter or get “his F‟ing stuff.” Defendant told the clerk to warn Dodson that she
just purchased bullets at a nearby store and one “had his name on it.” Defendant
then asked one of the little boys with her, “Mommy did buy the bullets, didn‟t she,
didn‟t she?” Dodson testified defendant previously had commented that, if
pushed, she would kill her children and herself.
The afternoon of October 26, the day of the murders, Brandon stayed home
to watch his siblings and defendant‟s nephew while defendant and Dodson went to
a bar to watch football. The couple ordered a pitcher of beer and soon were joined
by another couple. Defendant did not want the woman to sit with them due to a
confrontation they had had when she had criticized defendant for talking about

3 All calendar references are to 1997 unless otherwise noted.
4 Dodson behind his back. Dodson decided he and defendant should go to a
different bar because defendant was upset.
Defendant argued with Dodson when they left, complaining he had taken
the other woman‟s side. She slapped Dodson a few times while he was driving;
Dodson then decided to drive home. When defendant realized they were not going
to another bar, she slammed the minivan into its parking gear while they were
travelling 30 miles per hour on a freeway off-ramp. Defendant removed the keys
from the ignition, but Dodson eventually was able to retrieve them and drive
home.
Once home, the couple continued to argue in their bedroom. When Dodson
said he wanted to leave and move to Hawaii, defendant slapped him, took his
keys, blocked his exit from the room, and ripped out the telephones. Eventually,
they calmed down and had sex. Dodson then said he was going to watch
television in the living room; instead, when defendant was in another part of the
house, Dodson ran to a nearby gas station, called the Sheriff‟s department, and
asked that they send a deputy to stand by so he could retrieve his belongings and
truck from defendant‟s house.
While defendant and Dodson were fighting, Brandon had gone to a pay
telephone and called Kathy Goobs (Kathy), the mother of his best friend. He
asked her to come get him and the other boys because his brothers were scared and
Brandon did not want them exposed to the fighting. Kathy told Brandon to go
home, reassess the situation, and to call again if he still needed her to pick them
up.
A short time later, defendant called Kathy, “pleading” for Kathy to come
take the boys. Kathy testified that she spoke to defendant, who, though upset and
agitated, did not sound intoxicated. Defendant said she feared Dodson would call
the police and that, if they came, they would take and separate the children. Kathy
5 agreed to pick up the boys but never left to get them. Kathy had been allowing
Eric to stay at her home until he found a place to live; she decided not to get the
boys because she was concerned defendant no longer would allow Brandon to visit
her son if defendant saw Eric at Ka