People v. Boatman

In People v. Boatman (2013) 221 Cal.App.4th 1253, the defendant shot his girlfriend in her face while they were in a bedroom of his family's home. (Boatman, supra, 221 Cal.App.4th at p. 1258.) There were other family members in the home at the time, but none of them witnessed the shooting. The defendant gave different versions of what happened. He initially told officers that his girlfriend accidentally shot herself. He then stated that he accidentally shot her thinking the gun was not loaded. His final story was that he knew the gun was loaded and his girlfriend playfully pointed it at him, he slapped it away, and he then cocked back the hammer "'just jokingly'" and the gun fired after the hammer slipped. (Id. at p. 1259.) At trial, however, he testified that she playfully pointed the gun at him and he took it and playfully pointed it back at her. While pointing it at her, he cocked back the hammer, and, when she slapped the gun, it discharged. (Id. at p. 1260.) Immediately after the shooting, the defendant asked his brother to call the police and he attempted to give his girlfriend mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. (Ibid.) The Boatman court concluded that there was no planning evidence presented. (Boatman, supra, 221 Cal.App.4th at p. 1267.) The court pointed out that there was "no evidence that defendant left the room or the house to get a gun, or that he even moved from his squatting position on the floor." (Ibid.) The court further reasoned that the "defendant's behavior following the shooting was of someone horrified and distraught about what he had done, not someone who had just fulfilled a preconceived plan," noting that he tried to resuscitate his girlfriend, told his brother to call the police, and could be heard crying in the background during the 911 call. (Ibid.) The court concluded that "the evidence not only fails to support an inference of a plan to kill his girlfriend, but strongly suggests a lack of a plan to kill." (Ibid.) The Boatman court also found "little or no relevant motive evidence." (Boatman, supra, 221 Cal.App.4th at p. 1267.) The only motive evidence was a text message from the victim to a friend, stating that she was having a fight with the defendant. The Attorney General relied on this to argue that the jury may have inferred that the defendant was "'in a bad mood after being released from custody and he was angry with his girlfriend.'" (Id. at pp. 1267-1268.)