James Marlow

Case record

James Gregory Marlow was convicted in San Bernardino County, California, of murder and related offenses committed with Cynthia Lynn Coffman in 1986 and was sentenced to death.

People

• James Gregory Marlow (defendant; also described as “The Folsom Wolf”)
• Cynthia Lynn Coffman (defendant; girlfriend of Marlow in the offenses described)
• Lynel Murray, 19 (victim in the Orange County murder)
• Corinna D. Novis, 20 (victim in the San Bernardino County murder)
• Sandra Neary (victim described as 32-year-old; victim whose car was found and later whose strangled, decomposing corpse was found)
• Pamela Simmons, 35 (victim described as next to die)
• Robert Whitecotton (named as the victim’s boyfriend in the Murray killing narrative)
• Terry Davis (friend scheduled to meet Lynel Murray)
• Jean Cramer (supervisor who went to Novis’s apartment after she failed to appear for work)
• Jean Cramer and Terry Davis (participants in locating or noting missing property and nonappearance)
• Harold Brigham (proprietor of the Sierra Jewelry and Loan)
• Victoria Rotstein (assistant manager of a Taco Bell)
• Harold Brigham, Victoria Rotstein (witnesses identifying pawn/transaction activity)
• Richard Drinkhouse (recovering from injuries; present when Novis was brought)
• Veronica Koppers (Marlow’s sister; worked in a deli restaurant and was involved in providing keys/bag)
• Paul Koppers (witness regarding license plates and later phone calls)
• Irene Cardona (friend visited by Veronica; involved in trading an answering machine for methamphetamine)
• Debra Hawkins (bought the answering machine)
• Officer Robert W. Specht (California Highway Patrol officer)
• Sergeant James Lindley (Barstow Police Department)
• Doug Huntley (Coffman’s then boyfriend; mentioned in altercation and prison release)
• Harold Brigham (Fontana pawn-related witness)
• Detective/Officer witnesses described in the opinion include Odie Lockhart, Thomas Fitzmaurice, Deputy Blaine Proctor, Michael Newton (referenced as author in the narrative passage), and others named in the trial sections.

Timeline

• November 5, 1979 — Marlow and Allen Smallwood robbed Jeffrey Johnson.
• November 6, 1979 — Marlow robbed a leather goods store owned by Joanne Gilligan.
• November 7, 1986 — Corinna Novis was abducted; Coffman and Marlow were operating together at the Redlands Mall and then at the Drinkhouse residence.
• November 10, 1986 — Novis failed to appear for work without notice; Jean Cramer went to Novis’s apartment.
• November 11, 1986 — A Taco Bell manager found a bag containing Coffman’s and Novis’s drivers’ licenses and other identification papers.
• November 12, 1986 — Evidence linked the pair to the murder of Lynel Murray in Orange County.
• November 12, 1986 — Marlow and Coffman checked into the Bavarian Lodge in Big Bear using Lynell Murray’s credit card.
• November 14, 1986 — Coffman and Marlow were arrested in Big Bear as they were walking along a road.
• November 15, 1986 — Novis’s body was found in a shallow grave in a vineyard in Fontana.
• November 17, 1986 — Forensic pathologist Dr. Gregory Reiber performed an autopsy on Novis; Marlow and Coffman were charged with the murder.
• January 1987 — Dr. Michael Kania interviewed Marlow.
• July 18, 1989 — The murder trial in San Bernardino County opened.
• August 30, 1989 — Marlow and Coffman were sentenced to death in San Bernardino County; Marlow received the death sentence.
• February 17, 1988 — Marlow assaulted jail trustee Gary Hale (as described in the penalty phase evidence).
• August 19, 2004 — The California Supreme Court upheld the death sentences.

Background

James Marlow was described as an ex-convict from Kentucky known as “The Folsom Wolf.” The pair, James Marlow and Cynthia Coffman, traveled together and targeted female victims who had withdrawn cash from ATM machines.

Coffman was described in the narrative as having abandoned a husband and kids, traveling west, and later tattooing her behind with “I belong to the Folsom Wolf.” The opinion describes Coffman’s relationship with Marlow as involving threats and violence and includes testimony about battered woman syndrome.

Marlow had been incarcerated at Folsom Prison for home invasions and knife-point robberies. In the narrative, Marlow was described as wearing tattoos of the neo-Nazi Aryan Brotherhood.

The offence

San Bernardino County murder: Corinna D. Novis

Coffman and Marlow were linked to the abduction and murder of Corinna D. Novis on November 7, 1986. The California Supreme Court’s description included:

• Novis cashed a check at a First Interstate Bank drive-through window near the Redlands Mall.
• Coffman and Marlow entered a deli restaurant where Marlow’s sister Veronica Koppers worked.
• Coffman and Marlow brought Novis to the residence of Richard Drinkhouse around 7:30 p.m. Novis was brought inside and held while Marlow sought Novis’s personal identification number “teller number” for robbery.
• Marlow told Drinkhouse, “there won’t be any witnesses. How is she going to talk to anybody if she's under a pile of rocks?”
• Novis was handcuffed and had duct tape over her mouth.
• Novis’s apartment was later found entered, with her typewriter and answering machine missing.
• Novis’s body was found in a shallow grave in a vineyard in Fontana.
• A forensic autopsy described marks on the outside of her neck and injuries to her neck muscles consistent with ligature strangulation, with suffocation another possible cause due to soil in the back of her mouth. Sperm was found in her rectum, and there was no sign of trauma to her anus.

The jury convicted Marlow of:

• Murder (Pen. Code, § 187)
• Kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a))
• Kidnapping for robbery (Pen. Code, § 209, subd. (b))
• Robbery (Pen. Code, § 211)
• Residential burglary (Pen. Code, § 459)
• Forcible sodomy (Pen. Code, § 286, subd. (c))

The jury also found true special circumstance allegations that the murder was committed in the course of, or immediate flight from, robbery, kidnapping, sodomy and burglary within the meaning of section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17)(A), (B), (D) and (G). The jury further found that Coffman and Marlow were personally armed with a firearm (§ 12022, subd. (a)). A waiver by Marlow of a jury trial on prior serious felony convictions occurred, and those allegations were found true after the waiver.

Orange County murder: Lynel Murray

The penalty phase evidence included a murder, rape and related offenses against Lynel Murray, 19, in Orange County.

• Coffman checked into room 307 of the Huntington Beach Inn under the name of Lynell Murray and used Murray’s credit card to pay for the room.
• An employee later entered room 307 and found Murray’s body.
• The cause of death was determined to be ligature strangulation, with Murray’s head in water in a bathtub and towel strips bound around her head and face; gags were found in and over her mouth.
• Evidence included premortem blunt force trauma to the head, midsection injuries, bruising of the legs and two black eyes.
• A footprint consistent with Marlow’s boots was described on a bathmat near the body.
• The opinion described evidence that Murray had been raped and possibly urinated on.

Investigation and evidence

Evidence described included:

• Novis’s checkbook and other items found in a Laguna Niguel trash dumpster inside a fast-food takeout bag bearing papers with the names of Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow.
• Stationery with practice signatures of Lynel Murray’s name found in a San Bernardino motel room.
• A statewide alert for both fugitives.
• Police were summoned to a mountain lodge at Big Bear City where Marlow and Coffman were identified.
• A 100-man posse found the lodge empty and later found the suspects hiking along a mountain road.
• Coffman and Marlow surrendered; both were wearing outfits stolen from the dry cleaning shop where Lynel Murray worked.
• Within hours, Cynthia led officers to a vineyard near Fontana where Corinna Novis was found sodomized and strangled lying in a shallow grave.
• Fingerprints on Novis’s abandoned car and links to pawn activity:
  • Coffman’s fingerprints were found on the license plate, hood and ashtray of the car; a print on the hood was identified as Marlow’s.
  • An earring of Novis was later found in Coffman’s purse.
  • A typewriter was pawned using Novis’s identification.

Arrest

Marlow and Coffman were arrested on November 14, 1986 as they were walking near Big Bear Boulevard. The opinion described:

• Marlow and Coffman were arrested after purchases alerted authorities to their whereabouts.
• Coffman had a loaded .22-caliber gun in her purse.

Trial

Jury verdicts and findings

A San Bernardino County jury convicted Marlow and Coffman of the six listed offenses in relation to Corinna Novis and found true the special circumstance allegations described above. Marlow’s waiver of jury trial on the prior serious felony convictions allowed the trial court to find those allegations true. The jury returned a verdict of death and the trial court entered judgment accordingly. The appeal was automatic (§ 1239, subd. (b)).

Sentencing

On August 30, 1989, Marlow and Coffman were sentenced to death in San Bernardino County. The narrative described Coffman as being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in one context, and also described both as being sentenced to death in San Bernardino County in 1989; the opinion’s discussion focused on death sentences for both as upheld by the California Supreme Court.

Appeals

The California Supreme Court case is titled People v. Marlow (and Cynthia Lynn Coffman) and was decided on August 19, 2004.

The California Supreme Court upheld the judgment in its entirety and rejected claims including:

• Severance motions
• Change of venue motions
• Voir dire and juror bias claims
• Judicial disqualification request claims
• Claims of witness intimidation or suppression
• Challenges to introduction of statements made during interrogation
• Challenges related to Marlow’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege in front of the jury
• Instructional error claims, including:
  • Error in instructing that forcible sodomy could support first-degree felony murder (described as error but harmless)
  • CALJIC No. 2.15 instruction issue (recognized as error but found no reasonable likelihood of different outcome)
• Claims relating to battered woman syndrome instructions and related defenses
• Sufficiency of evidence arguments for special circumstance findings

Key quotations

Richard Drinkhouse testified about Marlow’s statement during the offenses. Marlow told Drinkhouse:

• “there won't be any witnesses.

Outcome

The California Supreme Court affirmed the death sentences. The death sentence for James Gregory Marlow was upheld and the judgment was affirmed in its entirety.

Other details

Prior robberies and other evidence used in penalty

The penalty phase included evidence that Marlow had been convicted on his plea of guilty to three robberies in 1979 (§ 190.3, factors (b) & (c)) and that, while incarcerated pending trial, he committed an act of violence against a jail trustee (factor (b)).

The opinion detailed the 1979 robberies:

• Upland robbery (November 5, 1979): Marlow and Allen Smallwood asked Jeffrey Johnson if he worked in construction; Smallwood struck Johnson; Marlow beat Johnson with a chain; victims were tied up with electrical cord; Lori and Kathy Liesch found cash missing; Johnson found $180 missing.
• Leather goods store robbery (November 6, 1979): Marlow walked in and told Joanne Gilligan he had a gun and she should lie down on the floor; Marlow removed money from the register, grabbed coats, and fled.
• Methadone clinic robbery (November 20, 1979): Marlow armed with a sawed-off shotgun and Smallwood carrying a pistol entered the clinic and demanded methadone; they fled with methadone with street value described as $10,000; at arrest on November 26, 1979, Marlow had methadone in his jacket pocket and a loaded sawed-off shotgun.

The opinion also described an assault while in custody:

• February 17, 1988: Gary Hale, a jail trustee facing charges, noticed Marlow pointing a blow gun; Hale was hit by a blow dart; Marlow later bragged to Deputy Carvey that it was a “lucky shot through the bars.”

Drug-related and other disputed matters

The record included disputed issues as to whether Coffman’s conduct during the shower involved sexual assault. It also included multiple arguments about alleged coercion, battered woman syndrome, and intent to kill.

Disposition

The judgment was affirmed.

Court: Superior Court (San Bernardino County) and Supreme Court of California Trial judge: Don A. Turner