Calls to 911 focus of Gay’s appeal
Posted by Gay News Desk at 10:32 AM. Filed under: Gay News
Man convicted in wife’s death seeks new trial
SACRAMENTO - Phone calls Robert Gay made to 911 dispatchers after a fatal fight with his wife in 2005 became the focus Tuesday of oral arguments before the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal.
The three justices - Coleman Blease, Vance Raye and Arthur Scotland - have three months to decide whether Gay’s 10-year sentence for shooting his wife should be overturned. Gay is out on bail while they decide.
The 911 recording “shows the mental state of mind” Gay had, said Charles Bonneau, Gay’s Sacramento attorney.
Bonneau argued that jurors in the initial trial should have heard the 911 calls, which San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Valli Israels never presented as evidence. Gay should get a new trial, Bonneau has said.
Gay and his wife, Peggy Spencer, were in a deteriorating marriage when they fought in the garage of their Spanos Park home on July 31, 2005, authorities said. Both ended up with gunshot wounds that day.
Gay had told police the gun went off in a struggle, while prosecutors, who sought a murder conviction, claimed Gay planned the killing and inflicted upon himself a nonfatal wound to cover up the crime.
A jury in June 2006 found Gay, 56, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge K. Peter Saiers sentenced him to 10 years in state prison and then set Gay free on bail pending the appeal.
Jurors would have been “impressed by his breathing, his concern for his wife,” Bonneau said, also describing “spontaneous comments” Gay made to dispatchers to prove the sincerity of the calls.
In one emergency call, Gay told dispatchers he and his wife were both shot and that somebody should contact their son. In the second call, Gay asked dispatchers if he should open his garage door so paramedics could better find them, according to arguments.
In the appeal, attorneys submitted written arguments over several months, and Bonneau requested a hearing in which each side could argue for 15 minutes as the judges asked questions.
Deputy Attorney General Kelly Le Bel argued Gay planned the killing and Saiers’ sentence should be upheld. Gay’s spontaneous statements were “self-serving,” she argued.
Gay waited 13 to 20 minutes after the shooting to call for help, Le Bel said, citing the trial record. If jurors heard the recordings, the outcome of the trial would be the same, Le Bel said.
Gay attended the hearing, which was held in an ornate courtroom next to the Capitol in Sacramento, as did Israels. Gay was not available for comment after the hearing.
Bonneau said he could not predict the eventual ruling based on questions the three justices asked.
“They like it that way,” said Bonneau, who expected a written decision in the coming weeks.
Source: recordnet.com