[deanmine]

THE PEOPLE,
Plaintiff and Respondent,
S120750
v.
KEVIN DARNELL PEARSON,
Los Angeles County
Defendant and Appellant.
Super. Ct. No. NA039436
____________________________________)
Defendant Kevin Darnell Pearson was convicted and sentenced to death for
the 1998 first degree murder of Penny Sigler, also known as Penny Keptra. The
jury found the murder was committed during the course of robbery, kidnapping, In addition,
defendant was convicted and sentenced to state prison for robbery, forcible rape,
and torture. convictions of
first degree murder and the other charged felonies,


FACTUAL BACKGROUND
The evidence showed defendant and two other men, Jamelle Armstrong and
Warren Hardy, killed the victim, a stranger to them, during a brutal robbery and
sexual assault. The crimes took place late on the night of December 29, 1998, by
a freeway embankment in Long Beach.
Guilt Phase Evidence
Between 11:00 p.m. and midnight on December 29, 1998, the victim,
Penny Sigler, left her Long Beach home to go to the store. She had $6 worth of
food stamps given to her by her roommate. Her nude body was found the next day
on the freeway embankment of northbound Interstate 405, near the intersection of
Wardlow Road and Long Beach Boulevard. The body was 10 to 15 feet from the
bottom of the embankment, separated from the surface streets by a drainage ditch
and, above the ditch, a nylon mesh fence supported by wooden stakes. One of the
stakes was broken, a tennis shoe lay on the embankment, and there was blood on
the fence and in the drainage area.
The victim’s injuries were extensive. The medical examiner counted 114
injuries, including around 25 fractures, all of which appeared to have been
inflicted before death. Blunt force trauma to the head and neck was a component
of her death, but the medical examiner also found signs of asphyxiation. Sigler
had sustained multiple blunt force injuries to her head, face and neck, including
abrasions and bruising on her neck, bruising around both eyes, an exposed
fractured left cheekbone, a laceration of the forehead exposing the skull bone, a
wounded left cheek, a partially torn-off right ear, internal bruising and bleeding in
the muscles of the neck, and broken neck bones. She also had blunt force injuries
2
on her back, chest, abdomen, arm and thigh. Some of the wounds could have been
inflicted with a piece of wooden stake.
Sigler also suffered bruising, abrasions and lacerations in and around her
genitalia, perineum and anus. A small splinter of wood was found in her vagina.
Her genital injuries could have been caused by penetration with a wooden stake
but not by penetration with a human penis.
On the night of December 29, defendant was at his friend Monty Gmur’s
house in Long Beach. He left around 10:00 p.m. with Warren Hardy and Jamelle
Armstrong. According to Gmur, the men were drunk and boisterous when they
left his house, though they were walking without difficulty.
The next day, defendant told Gmur he and the men he was with had killed
“a white woman” after they left Gmur’s home. After seeing a news report about
Sigler’s murder, Gmur asked defendant for more information. Defendant told
Gmur the men had gone to the Wardlow Metro station, where they momentarily
became separated. On hearing a commotion across the way, defendant went to see
what was happening, found Hardy “stomping” on a woman, and tried to get him to
stop. The victim had said she did not have any money; when they found her food
stamps, Hardy became angry and beat her with a stick. Defendant told Gmur he
helped Hardy and Armstrong move the victim from the street, over a fence to the
freeway embankment, but attributed all the violence committed to Hardy. A few
days later, Gmur contacted the police and told them what defendant had told him.
Long Beach Police Detective Bryan McMahon interviewed defendant on
January 6, 1999. After initially denying all involvement, defendant said that he,
Hardy and Armstrong, together with a man named Chris, had left Gmur’s house
late on the night of December 29 after drinking together. Chris soon left the
group, and the remaining three took a Metro train to the Wardlow station. As they
walked toward Long Beach Boulevard, Hardy lagging behind, defendant heard a
3
woman screaming for help and turned to find Hardy punching her. The woman
momentarily escaped Hardy, running to a nearby fence. The victim either climbed
and fell over the fence or was lifted over it; Hardy then jumped the fence and
dragged her into a drainage ditch area. Defendant and Armstrong followed to find
Hardy sitting on the woman’s chest, gesturing to his crotch and demanding she
orally copulate him. When defendant told Hardy that was disgusting and he could
get AIDS from the blood on the victim’s face, Hardy got up, zipped his pants, and
resumed beating the victim with a stick, as he had been doing (while also
stomping on her) earlier. Hardy and Armstrong then repeatedly jabbed the stick
into the victim’s vagina.
When Hardy and Armstrong stopped, defendant suggested they move the
woman’s body. Wrapping shirts around her, the three carried her farther up the
freeway embankment. They then collected her clothing in a bag and carried the
bag and stick to a bus stop on Long Beach Boulevard, where Armstrong threw the
stick into a field. The three then rode the bus to Los Angeles, leaving the clothing
in a trash can at a transfer point. They went to Hardy’s girlfriend’s house, where
they stayed until the next day, when defendant and Hardy returned to Long Beach
for some clothing; there was blood on the clothes they had worn during the killing.
On January 7, 1999, police arrested Hardy and Armstrong and searched
their residences. Later that day, after receiving information from Hardy and
Armstrong, Detective McMahon reinterviewed defendant. Without telling
defendant what Hardy and Armstrong had said, McMahon informed defendant it
was not entirely consistent with what defendant had told him. “More [had]
happened out there” than defendant had admitted, and defendant “needed to tell
the truth and take responsibility” for his own actions. Defendant nodded
affirmatively and gave a significantly more incriminating version of events.
4
As the three men were walking to Long Beach Boulevard from the
Wardlow station, defendant said, they were shouting “Happy New Year” and
“Merry Christmas.” They heard a woman yell back, “Yeah, Merry Christmas.
Happy New Year.” The men crossed the street and talked with the woman. At
some point Hardy asked the woman where her money was; she said she didn’t
have any, but defendant started looking through her jacket pockets. When she
tried to get away, defendant and Armstrong wrestled her to the ground and started
pulling her clothes off and going through them, looking for valuables. Once she
was naked, Hardy said, “We have to finish the job,” and he and Armstrong began
stomping on the victim’s head and upper body. Defendant and Armstrong then
threw the victim over the fence onto the freeway embankment, the three men
jumped the fence, and Armstrong dragged her farther off the road.
Defendant, according to his January 7 statement, then unzipped his pants
and raped the victim for a minute or less, while she struggled and Armstrong held
one of her legs. When he quit, Hardy approached and began beating the victim
with a stick or stake on her head and neck. Hardy and Armstrong again stomped
on her, and defendant also did so, kicking or stomping on her upper body five or
six times. Finally, Hardy and Armstrong vaginally penetrated the victim with the
stick. The remainder of defendant’s January 7 statement accorded with his earlier
account: the three moved the victim’s body up the embankment, collected
clothing from the scene, and took the bus to Los Angeles, discarding the stick and
clothing as previously described. The next day, Hardy spent food stamps they had
taken from the victim at a Mexican market near his girlfriend’s apartment.
In letters defendant wrote and sent after he was arrested, he said he did not
kill the victim but kicked her in the head several times, and the victim was raped
but he did not remember by whom.
5
The serial numbers of two food stamps that originated at a check cashing
agency in Long Beach and were exchanged at Lorena’s Market in Los Angeles
matched those on a food stamp booklet cover found at the crime scene. DNA
matching Hardy’s was found in saliva on the victim’s body. DNA matching that
of Sigler, the victim, was found on boots and pants defendant had left at Hardy’s
girlfriend’s house, items of clothing similar to those Gmur had seen defendant
wearing on the night of December 29. Shoe prints at the crime scene were similar
to the sole pattern of the boots.
Defendant testified in his own defense. In December 1998, he was living
on the second floor of his mother’s house; Gmur lived next door. On
December 29, defendant drank a six-pack of Olde English 800 malt liquor before
going to Gmur’s house around 4:00 p.m. At Gmur’s house, defendant, with
others, smoked marijuana and drank beer and a mixture of alcoholic beverages
they called “gasoline.” By 9:00 p.m., defendant was drunk and high. The group,
which included Hardy and Armstrong, drank some more, then finally left Gmur’s
house.
As defendant, Hardy and Armstrong walked along Wardlow Road toward
Long Beach Boulevard, where they planned to catch a bus to Los Angeles,
defendant heard a cry of pain from across the street. He saw Hardy with a woman.
Holding the woman’s jacket lapel, Hardy asked if she had any money, and when
she said no, he accused her of lying, started looking through her pockets, and took
the jacket off her to search it. Armstrong held the victim to prevent her from
leaving or resisting. Though defendant told his friends to leave the woman alone,
they both began to hit her face and head with their fists. Eventually Hardy and
Armstrong forced the victim to the ground and started kicking her. Defendant
continued to tell them to leave her alone.
6
Hardy and Armstrong threw the victim over a fence, then climbed over, as
did defendant. Bleeding and in pain, the victim asked for help in a voice “like a
gurgle.” Armstrong dragged her to the drainage ditch area, then kicked her in the
head and neck while Hardy kicked her chest. Armstrong and Hardy stripped the
victim of her clothes, then beat and kicked her further. When defendant again told
them to stop and started toward the fence, Hardy gave him a threatening look,
asked where he was going, and said, “We have to finish the job.” Armstrong
found a stick and started beating the victim with it while Hardy continued to kick
her. Eventually Armstrong used the stick to penetrate the victim vaginally; Hardy
then grabbed the stick from Armstrong and did the same, while Armstrong kicked
the victim.
When Hardy and Armstrong stopped their assault, defendant could tell the
victim was dead because she did not seem to be breathing and the “water-type
sound coming out of her throat” had stopped. Hardy said they had to “clean up.”
Defendant and Armstrong wrapped shirts around the victim so as not to touch her,
then carried her up the embankment. They gathered her clothing and put it into a
bag Hardy had. The three men then went to the bus stop on Long Beach
Boulevard, Armstrong threw the stick into a field, and they boarded a bus. Hardy
got into an altercation with a man on the bus, and when the driver threatened to
call the police, defendant promised to keep Hardy calm. They threw the bag of
clothing into a trash can in Los Angeles.
Defendant testified he had given Detective McMahon untrue versions of the
events because he was scared and the detective kept calling him a liar. He told a
different story in the January 7 interview because he thought if he told the
detectives what they wanted to hear he would be released sooner. A detective told
him Armstrong had said defendant raped the victim, so he repeated that false story
to the detectives. During the killing, defendant did nothing to stop Armstrong and
7
Hardy from attacking the victim because he was afraid if he did so, they would
turn on him and attack him.
Penalty Phase Evidence
For the prosecution, Janisha Williams testified that defendant, along with
Williams and about 25 of their friends, was a member of the Capone Thug
Soldiers, a gang,2 and that initiation into this group required fighting two of the
members for a few minutes. Once, several members of Capone Thug Soldiers,
including the witness and defendant, beat up a person “for the fun of it.” On other
occasions, Williams saw defendant hit people with sticks or knock riders off their
bicycles, in one case injuring the rider.
Monty Gmur testified that while defendant, Hardy and Armstrong were at
his house on December 29, 1998, with a young man named Chris, they asked if
they could use his back room to initiate Chris into their gang. When Gmur
refused, the four left, returning about 15 minutes later. Gmur then heard Hardy on
the telephone tell someone named Capone that “Chris is cool. We’re going to call
him Playboy.”
Teddy Keptra, Penny Sigler’s son, testified to the impact of her murder on
him. Fifteen years old at the time of her death, he subsequently dropped out of
high school and had difficulty holding a job. He missed his mother and thought of
her constantly.
For the defense, Colette Burnett, defendant’s mother, testified defendant’s
first stepfather, with whom he had had a good relationship, died in 1986, when
defendant was nine years old. Burnett had a breakdown in 1989; she was
2
Williams first denied Capone Thug Soldiers was a gang but, reminded of
her contrary statement to police, then agreed it was.
8
hospitalized and unable to care for her children for several months, during which
time defendant stayed with relatives and in foster care. In late 1989, she began
living with a man named Saleem, whom she married in 1991. Saleem physically
abused Burnett, despite defendant’s efforts to stop him. Burnett herself sometimes
hit defendant with a belt, broomstick or mop handle.
Defendant’s younger brother testified Capone Thug Soldiers was a rap
group, not a street gang, and consisted of only five or six people, including himself
and defendant. He also testified Saleem hit their mother on many occasions, and
she had beaten her sons regularly.
A former neighbor testified defendant used to babysit for her grandchildren,
who lived with her. On one occasion, she saw Saleem try to hit defendant and his
brothers with a two-by-four.
Psychiatrist Jack Rothberg interviewed defendant, administered
psychological testing, and reviewed investigatory and trial materials relating to the
case, including police reports and transcripts of defendant’s police interviews and
trial testimony as well as statements to police by Hardy and Armstrong.
Defendant had described his family history, including his abusive stepfather, and
told Rothberg of a conflict with Armstrong and Hardy that occurred sometime
before the killing of Sigler. Defendant had accused Armstrong of stealing; in
response, Armstrong, Hardy and “one of their gang friends” threatened defendant
with a gun and told him to shut up about it. From his examination of defendant
and review of materials, Rothberg concluded that during the attack on Sigler
defendant was frightened of Hardy and Armstrong, “was shocked as the events
unfolded and was really paralyzed to do anything about it . . . as if he was on a fast
moving train he just couldn’t stop or get off of.” On cross-examination, Rothberg
said he was aware that Armstrong and Hardy had told the police defendant raped
the victim; he nonetheless believed defendant’s denial of having done so.
9
The parties stipulated defendant had no prior criminal convictions.

[deanmine]

the lady had 6 food stamp dollars

from prison Jamelle Armstrong writes......

Greetings, my name is Jamelle, after years of being forgotten and never having the opportunity of knowing what it is like to be in the shine or presence of a mature, beautiful woman. I am reaching out so I can get to know those pleasures by understanding, seeing, and knowing her nature or definitions of a good woman. Do you like good R & B music, long letter writing, and signatured cards? Do you have the time and patience along with the ability to assist me in my quest to further myself to grow in life, if this sounds like you, being in touch can't hurt, so feel free to write, thanks!

[HarveySpecter]

[rapeWhistle]

Savagely beaten to death and raped... never made the national news.

Some punk assaults the local neighborhood watch and get's shot - international incident.

[deanmine]

aint that the truth, brother

[jesse]

Originally Posted by rapeWhistle ↗

Savagely beaten to death and raped... never made the national news.

Some punk assaults the local neighborhood watch and get's shot - international incident.

White on black....black on white?

[decap]

How horrible