Tracy Garrison

Case details

Tracy Garrison was convicted of first degree murder in 2004. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in connection with a murder committed during a robbery and a kidnapping. Her jury found her murder involved robbery and kidnapping and that she knew a principal was armed with a gun.

Status

Tracy Garrison received a life sentence without possibility of parole, plus a determinate term of one year for the principal-armed enhancement.

The offence

Tracy Garrison was convicted in count 1 of the murder of Michael Willison (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)). The murder allegedly occurred while Garrison and Joshua Wahlert were engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a robbery (§ 211) and kidnapping (§ 207), with special circumstances under § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A) & (B).

In connection with the murder, the third amended information alleged that Joshua Wahlert personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury or death (§§ 12022.53, subd. (d) & 1192.7, subd. (c)(8)), and that both Wahlert and Garrison personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife (§§ 12022, subd. (b)(1) & 1192.7, subd. (c)(23)).

The information further alleged that Garrison participated knowing that a principal was armed with a gun (§ 12022, subd. (a)(1)).

Garrison’s jury found the robbery-murder and kidnap-murder special circumstance allegations true, and found true the knowing-armed enhancement. Her jury found not true the enhancement allegation that she personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon.

Michael Willison was 39 years old. Police stated that he was murdered in 2001.

Investigation

Investigators treated the killing as connected to Joshua Wahlert after Wahlert was arrested on an unrelated brandishing charge. Police discovered that the truck Wahlert was driving belonged to Willison and found clothing stained with Willison’s blood, along with Willison’s checks, credit cards, and business cards.

A jogger found Willison’s body near large rocks in a rural area in the county. Police found the body covered with a tarp or mat and found a piece of duct tape 20 to 30 feet away from the body. Impressions of tire tracks at the scene matched the tires on Willison’s truck.

Police learned that Willison’s car had been impounded in connection with the arrest. While Wahlert was in custody, an investigator for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department interviewed Wahlert after Miranda warnings and a waiver, and audiotaped recordings of the interviews were played in the presence of Wahlert’s jury only.

Investigators later described that during a separate “pretext call,” Wahlert telephoned Garrison from the sheriff’s station, and the call was recorded and played to each jury separately.

Police said that in recorded interviews and conversations, Wahlert and Garrison made statements directly or indirectly implicating themselves and each other.

Evidence and admissions

Conduct and statements described at trial

Ramirez testified that Garrison discussed a plan to rob and kill Willison, take Willison’s money and other property, and go to Las Vegas to get married. Ramirez testified that Garrison and Wahlert entered Ramirez’s home after Willison arrived and that Wahlert pulled a gun and pointed it at Willison. Ramirez testified that Garrison brought in a roll of duct tape, and that Willison’s mouth and hands were taped with duct tape.

Ramirez testified that Garrison went through Willison’s pockets and took keys, a wallet, a necklace, and a ring and threw them on a couch.

Ramirez testified that he did not stop them because Wahlert had a gun and that it appeared Wahlert and Garrison were “working together.”

After the killing, Ramirez testified that Wahlert gave him Willison’s ring and necklace as “compensation to help you out for what went on,” and told him “don’t say a word.” Ramirez testified that Wahlert took other property, including a $20 bill and credit cards.

Wahlert told Wood that he had taken the truck “from a dude that he killed.” Wood testified that Wahlert stated: “He intended ‘to rob the guy . . . and stuff got out of hand and he shot him, stabbed him[,] and split.’”

Wahlert asked Wood to help bury the victim and asked where he could get a 50-gallon drum. Wahlert left a bag of clothes at the house, which Ed Geiger later burned.

Recorded “pretext call” exchange

During the call, Garrison and Wahlert made statements implicating themselves and each other. The record preserved the following exchange:

“WAHLERT: And you didn’t tell me to shoot him?
‘GARRISON: Nope!
‘WAHLERT: Oh, ho-oh! You don’t love me, do you?
‘GARRISON: You know what does that have to with thing [ sic ]. I do love you. But I never told you, I never told you to do anything. . . . I never told you to kill him. I never told you to shoot him.
‘WAHLERT: OOOOhhhh! Tracey!!!! Tracey!!!!”

The record also preserved the following quoted statements during the call:

“My life’s over because I cared about you.”

“Well then you shouldn’t have done it.”

“You’re going too. Let’s go.”

Trial

Charges and trial structure

Joshua Blaine Wahlert and Tracy Leean Garrison were tried jointly before separate juries. Garrison was tried in count 1 for murder of Michael Willison and the jury made findings on the special circumstance allegations and enhancements.

The indictment charged Garrison with murder (count 1) and included enhancements and special circumstances tied to robbery and kidnapping, plus allegations that a principal was armed with a gun.

Neither Wahlert nor Garrison testified at trial.

Verdicts

Garrison’s jury convicted her of murder (count 1) and found true:

• that she committed the murder while engaged in the commission of robbery and kidnapping
• that she knew that a principal was armed with a gun

Garrison’s jury found not true the enhancement allegation that she personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon.

The Wahlert jury found him guilty on all counts and found all enhancement allegations true.

Sentencing

Garrison was sentenced to life without possibility of parole plus a determinate term of one year for the principal-armed enhancement.

The sentencing included an on-the-record remark attributed to Riverside, California Superior Court Judge Christian Thierbach addressing Garrison before sentencing:

“Frankly, you scare me to death,”

“You are a frightening, frightening individual.”

The record further described that Judge Thierbach suggested making a movie about Garrison to teach children about what meth can do to a person’s life.

Appeals

Crawford v. Washington issue and outcome

While appeals were pending, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36, concluding that the use of “testimonial” hearsay out-of-court statements obtained for use in prosecution violates the Confrontation Clause where the declarant cannot be cross-examined.

Garrison’s court-appointed appellate lawyer Richard A. Levy of Torrance argued that because Wahlert did not testify and could not be cross-examined, the use of Wahlert’s statements on the tape violated Crawford.

Justice Jeffrey King wrote for the Fourth District Court of Appeal panel (Division Two) and agreed that the call was not “casual” but a carefully planned means of gathering evidence. The panel held there was no reasonable possibility that Garrison would have received a more favorable verdict if the jury had not heard the tape. The court cited testimony from several witnesses to whom Garrison had related details of the crime, and stated that the evidence of her guilt was overwhelming without regard to Wahlert’s statements during the pretext call.

The opinion included this quoted statement in summarizing Garrison’s guilt:

“As to her participation in the murder, whether as a direct perpetrator or as an aider and abettor of Wahlert’s actions, the evidence of Garrison’s guilt was overwhelming without regard to Wahlert’s statements during the pretext call,”

The record also stated that the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment against Garrison.

Additional appeal issues described for Wahlert

The record described that King rejected Wahlert’s claim, in an unpublished portion of the opinion, that jurors might have erroneously believed they could convict him of first degree murder based on implied malice, explaining that because the jury found the kidnap-murder and robbery-murder special circumstance allegations true, jurors necessarily believed Wahlert was guilty of first degree felony murder and it made no difference whether jurors also believed him guilty of malice and premeditation.

Outcome

The judgment against Garrison was affirmed.

Other details

Sentencing remarks and conduct

The record stated that after conviction, Wahlert spoke to the judge but Garrison did not. The record preserved Wahlert’s quoted statement:

“I don’t deserve to be a free man.”

“I don’t want to be on the streets.”

Drug use and background described in the record

Probation officer’s report described:

• Garrison began using alcohol and methamphetamine at 12, injected heroin three times a week, and smoked marijuana daily.
• Wahlert began using alcohol at 14 and methamphetamine at 17, and was described as a Hell’s Angel.

Relationships and references during trial testimony

The record described that Garrison and Wahlert referred to each other as “Bonnie and Clyde.” It also described that Garrison was involved romantically with both Wahlert and Willison, and that all three were methamphetamine users, based on witness testimony.

Victim and location details appearing in the record

Willison lived in Temecula. A jogger found his body near some large rocks in a rural area in the county. The body was found covered with a tarp or mat and was discovered by a jogger nine days after the murder.

The record included a statement about the location of the arrest: on January 20, 2001, Wahlert was arrested while in Willison’s truck and displayed a gun to two women in another car, after which one woman called her husband and the husband called 911.