Anna Humiston

Case overview

Anna Jeannette Humiston was convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in a case involving the killing of Teresa Ann Holloway, a pregnant woman. Humiston participated in the murder while she was a student at Patrick Henry High School and was 17 years old at the time of the killing.

Background

Humiston met Robert Jurado in March 1990 when she was 16 years old and Jurado was 18 years old. Humiston and Jurado soon established a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

Through Jurado, Humiston met Denise Shigemura, Teresa Ann Holloway, and Brian Johnsen. Holloway and Johnsen, both drug users, lived together when Humiston met them, but Johnsen made Holloway move out when Holloway became pregnant and refused to stop using drugs. Johnsen took in a roommate, Doug Mynatt. In March 1991, Johnsen introduced Mynatt to Jurado, and Mynatt sold Jurado drugs which Jurado then resold.

By April 1991, several people, including Mynatt, Johnsen and Shigemura, were angry with Jurado for various reasons. On one occasion, Mynatt and Johnsen forced Jurado to go to Johnsen’s house where they confronted Jurado with their grievances. Because Jurado owed Mynatt some money for drugs, Mynatt initially threatened to beat him up but then agreed to supply him with more drugs to sell with the understanding the profit would be given to Mynatt.

While Johnsen was in jail in May 1991 for reasons unrelated to the present crime, Mynatt began causing problems. Johnsen decided Mynatt had to be killed.

The offence

Teresa Ann Holloway was found dead at about 7:30 a.m. on May 17, 1991 in a drainage ditch on the side of Highway 163 near San Diego’s Balboa Park. The cause of death was blunt force head injuries and strangulation. Holloway’s skull was shattered and her jaw was broken. Her injuries included numerous track-like abrasions on her face, arms, hands, legs and feet caused by a threaded device such as a pipe or scissors jack, lacerations on her head, a human bite mark on her back and ligature marks around her neck. The wounds showed Holloway was trying to cover herself as she was being hit. She also had hairs clutched in her fingers. Holloway was 15 or 16 weeks pregnant.

Humiston telephoned her friend Melissa Andre the day before the body was found and told her she had killed Holloway because Holloway got Humiston into a lot of trouble. Humiston said Holloway did not die fast enough and had struggled. Humiston said she had straddled and punched Holloway while Humiston’s boyfriend, Robert Jurado, choked her. Humiston said she did not think she would get caught. She asked Andre to go with her to see Holloway’s body but they never went.

In a later conversation, Humiston told Andre that Robert would take the blame if they got caught. Humiston also said if she did not get caught this time she would kill someone again.

That same morning, Humiston told her friend Mia Rodrigues that she and Jurado had killed a girl named Terry. Humiston said Denise Shigemura had been driving Humiston’s car while Jurado strangled Holloway. When Holloway would not die fast enough from strangulation, Jurado hit her over the head with a jack from the car until she died. Humiston told Rodrigues she saw the jack take off part of Holloway’s face and that after the beating they left the body in a ditch. Humiston also said she had held Holloway’s arms down to prevent her from scratching Jurado’s face. Humiston thought she might have broken Holloway’s arm because she heard a “snap” while she was holding her. Humiston said she did this because Holloway had been threatening Humiston’s family and that there was no chance she would be caught for this murder. Humiston also told Rodrigues she had beaten Holloway up several months earlier.

Events leading to the killing (1990 to May 1991)

The events leading to Holloway’s murder began in 1990 with Humiston meeting Jurado in March 1990 and establishing a relationship. Through Jurado, Humiston met Shigemura, Holloway and Johnsen, with Holloway and Johnsen living together until Holloway became pregnant.

In May 1991, Johnsen telephoned Shigemura and discussed his idea that Mynatt had to be killed. He also told Shigemura he wanted to talk to Jurado about it. Shigemura used a three-way calling feature on the telephone to talk to Jurado at Humiston’s house. Humiston answered the telephone and then Jurado took the call which lasted two hours and forty-four minutes. Jurado, Johnsen and Shigemura discussed killing Mynatt, and Jurado acknowledged he had already been thinking about killing Mynatt himself. Jurado, Johnsen and Shigemura decided to keep Holloway out of their plan because she asked too many questions and was not a “good liar.”

The murder on May 15, 1991

On Wednesday, May 15, 1991, Jurado, Shigemura and Holloway were at Jurado’s apartment when Humiston arrived in her car between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Another friend, Mark Schmidt, arrived after Johnsen had telephoned Schmidt’s apartment earlier and asked him to bring Jurado there so Johnsen could call back and speak to Jurado.

Humiston sat down on the floor with a worried look on her face. Jurado and Shigemura went into the bedroom. Johnsen telephoned and spoke to Jurado first. Jurado said he had to “take care of” Mynatt before Johnsen got out of jail. Johnsen agreed to let Jurado take care of Mynatt on his own.

Johnsen then spoke to Shigemura. Shigemura warned him he had better speak to Holloway because Holloway apparently knew about the plan to kill Mynatt and had been asking a lot of questions. Holloway then spoke to Johnsen and they talked about the plan to kill Mynatt. While Holloway was still in the bedroom talking to Johnsen on the telephone, Jurado whispered to Shigemura, saying Holloway was going to tell Mynatt what was being planned.

Jurado said he wanted to kill Holloway to prevent her from “snitching.” Jurado went into the living room and told Humiston “we’re going to have to do Terry, take her out.” Jurado made chopping gestures with his hand and shook Humiston. Humiston looked upset or worried.

In Humiston’s presence, Jurado asked Schmidt for some “weed-eater wire,” saying he needed it because Johnsen had asked him to secure his motorcycle. Schmidt gave Jurado some plastic wire and straps. Jurado wrapped the wire around his neck and said, “That will do.”

At this point Holloway was still in the bedroom talking to Johnsen on the telephone. Shigemura had to be back at the private furlough facility where she was staying by 9 p.m. Humiston, Jurado and Shigemura yelled at Holloway to get off the telephone and come with them. Holloway did not want to go, saying she wanted to continue talking on the telephone to Johnsen and there was no reason she had to go. Finally, Schmidt told Holloway she had to leave because he was leaving also and had to lock the apartment.

After Jurado told Shigemura about the plan to kill Holloway, Jurado and Humiston approached Shigemura. Jurado said Humiston did not want to drive, and Jurado told Shigemura to drive. Standing within an arm’s length of Humiston, Shigemura told Jurado he could not “do this, this is a friend.” She said she did not want anything to do with killing Holloway. Jurado said he would “do it” after he dropped off Shigemura and would throw Holloway’s body off Waring Road. Humiston was present when these statements were made. She handed Shigemura her car keys.

Shigemura drove while Humiston sat in the back seat behind Shigemura, Holloway sat in the front passenger seat and Jurado sat behind Holloway. Shigemura drove down 40th Street onto the freeway. A few minutes later, Jurado wrapped the plastic wire around his hands, leaned forward and began strangling Holloway. Holloway fought back and started to scream. Both Humiston and Shigemura yelled something like, “Rob, what are you doing?” and yelled at him to stop.

After about a minute, Jurado pulled Holloway into the backseat with him and Humiston. The car was swerving and Holloway was screaming, “Why are you doing this to me, why are you doing this to my baby?” Shigemura heard Holloway being struck several times with fists. Jurado reached into the back of the car and got a scissors jack. Eventually, Humiston made her way to the front seat. By this time, Holloway was on the floor in the back and there was no sound coming from her.

Humiston’s car began to break down. Jurado told Shigemura to pull over and Humiston offered to drive. Shigemura got out and walked around to the passenger side while Humiston slid over to the driver’s seat. Humiston got the car moving back onto the freeway but the car soon experienced more problems and Humiston had to pull off to the side of the road. Humiston and Shigemura got out and went to the back of the car and pretended they were changing a tire.

Jurado pulled Holloway out of the car, dragged her three or four feet off the road and threw her into a drainage ditch. Jurado then jumped into the ditch and began beating her with the jack, striking eight or nine blows. Sometimes he missed and the sound of the jack hitting concrete could be heard.

When Jurado came out of the ditch, he, Humiston and Shigemura pushed the car away from where they left the body. They left the car and walked up a freeway off-ramp to a 7-Eleven. On the way, Jurado threw the jack off the side of the road. Humiston, Shigemura and Jurado washed their hands with ice Shigemura had obtained inside the store. Jurado telephoned a friend, David Silva, to ask for a ride. While they waited for Silva, Jurado decided to go back to the car to get a wallet.

Humiston’s, Jurado’s and Shigemura’s actions included a series of movements to avoid being caught and to dispose of evidence. Silva drove Humiston, Jurado and Shigemura to Silva’s girlfriend’s apartment, where Humiston, Jurado and Shigemura seemed “kind of shaken, kind of stirred up a little bit.” Humiston looked like she had been crying. Silva then drove Humiston home.

The next day, Humiston left her high school campus and drove her mother’s car to Jurado’s apartment where she met Jurado and Shigemura. Jurado telephoned a towing company and arranged to have Humiston’s car towed from where they left it the night before. They drove to meet the tow truck there.

There was blood on the passenger side door and the carpet of Humiston’s car. Humiston watched as Shigemura cleaned off the blood and Jurado searched the car for Holloway’s belongings. Humiston asked Shigemura to go with her to look at Holloway’s body but Shigemura declined. Humiston set off on her own but did not get very far when the tow truck arrived and she returned to her car. As the car was being towed to Jurado’s apartment, Humiston joked with Shigemura about the murder. Shigemura asked Humiston whether she thought the murder was necessary and Humiston said yes, Holloway was a “snitch” and could have hurt Humiston. When they arrived at his apartment, Jurado paid the tow truck driver with money from Holloway’s purse and Humiston signed a receipt. Humiston and Shigemura then cleaned more blood off the car.

Later that day, Humiston mentioned that Mynatt was going to hurt her family and expressed a desire to have him killed, saying “[l]et’s take care of it.” After Jurado threw some of Holloway’s belongings in a dumpster, he, Humiston and Shigemura went to Humiston’s house where they washed clothes, including Jurado’s bloody shirt from the night before.

Larissa Slusher and Ted Meyer passed by the dumpster used by residents of Jurado’s apartment complex. Slusher had known Holloway for seven or eight months. The night before Holloway’s murder, Slusher had loaned Holloway a dress which she put in her purse. Slusher and Meyer saw the dress in the dumpster, spread out covering some of Holloway’s possessions including her purse, wallet, driver’s license, photographs of her child, Johnsen’s driver’s license and one sandal identical to one found with Holloway’s body at the scene of the crime.

The next day, Humiston told Rodrigues that she and Jurado had the car towed and paid for the tow truck with money from Holloway’s purse. Humiston said she did not feel bad about killing Holloway and said she had tried to talk to Holloway about the threats Holloway had made to her family, so she did not feel “all that guilty.” Humiston told Rodrigues she was getting a new car that day or the next and seemed happy and excited about it.

On Saturday, May 18, 1991, Humiston drove her new car to pick up Jurado and they went to Silva’s house. Humiston, Jurado and Silva then drove to Jurado’s apartment. As they arrived, the police pulled up and arrested Humiston and Jurado. Humiston showed the police where the jack used to murder Holloway had been thrown.

Investigation and arrest

The police talked to Humiston and Jurado about Holloway’s murder on May 17, 1991. Humiston said she hardly knew Holloway and had seen her only once or twice.

The next day, the police arrested Humiston, Jurado and Shigemura after receiving information that Humiston had told Andre about the murder.

Charges

Humiston and Jurado were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The case record describes the murder as a violation of Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a) and the conspiracy as a violation of Penal Code section 182, subdivision (a)(1).

Trial

A jury convicted Humiston of conspiracy to commit murder (Pen. Code, fn. 2 ? 182, subd. (a)(1)) and first degree murder (? 187, subd. (a)). Humiston testified at trial, denying any involvement in Holloway’s murder and denying knowing anything about the plot to kill Mynatt or why Jurado killed Holloway.

Humiston testified she was upset the night of the murder because she thought Jurado and Shigemura were having an affair, not because she knew Holloway was about to be killed. Humiston admitted she disliked Holloway in part because Holloway supplied Jurado with drugs.

Humiston testified that Jurado told her they were going to “take Terry out,” but she did not understand and thought Jurado meant he was going to beat Holloway up. Humiston testified that when Jurado began to strangle Holloway in the car, Humiston tried to stop him but he threatened to kill her and ordered her to get in the front seat. Jurado then began to hit Holloway with his fists. As Humiston crawled into the front seat, Holloway grabbed her hair. Humiston said she hit Holloway once to make her let go. Humiston testified she was not trying to help Jurado or to kill Holloway, but she knew by then that Holloway was being murdered.

Humiston testified about leaving the scene after her car broke down, stating she drove because Jurado threatened to kill her. Humiston testified she was terrified of Jurado and Shigemura. She testified that after the murder, she believed Jurado when he threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Humiston testified she told her friends Andre and Rodrigues about the murder because she was afraid and “couldn’t keep it in.” She testified she was afraid to tell her parents and hoped Rodrigues would tell them.

The record also described disputes about trial evidence and jury instructions, including admission of certain evidence related to Humiston’s drug use and the use of a beeper code number used to communicate with Jurado.

Sentencing

Humiston was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life on each count but the court stayed imposition of sentence on the conspiracy count under section 654 and ordered that she be housed at the California Youth Authority (CYA).

On June 23, 1992, Humiston was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.

Appeals

The jury verdict and sentencing were challenged through appeal.

In the case People v. Humiston (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 460, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 515 [No. D017124. Fourth Dist., Div. One. Nov 23, 1993.], the opinion discussed multiple issues, including the court’s rulings on:

• allowing Humiston to be cross-examined with statements she made to mental health professionals in anticipation of a juvenile court fitness hearing;
• admission of evidence of Humiston’s drug use since the age of 13;
• an error in admitting evidence of Humiston using the number 187 on a pager to communicate with her coconspirator a year before the crime, with the opinion stating the error did not require reversal;
• the sufficiency of evidence supporting the verdict;
• evidentiary rulings and restrictions of rebuttal evidence;
• commitment to CYA;
• and whether the sentence was cruel and unusual punishment and the constitutionality of a reasonable doubt instruction.

The disposition directed the court to amend the abstract of judgment to reflect that imposition of sentence on the conspiracy count was stayed on count 1, conspiracy, rather than on count 2, murder. In all other respects, the judgment was affirmed.

Appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied March 3, 1994.

Outcome

Humiston remained convicted and was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. The appellate court affirmed the judgment in all respects except for directing an amendment to the abstract of judgment regarding which count had sentence imposition stayed.

Other details

Victim

Teresa Ann Holloway was 26 years old and was strangled and beaten to death. She was 15 or 16 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Her body was found in a culvert beneath Highway 163 in San Diego County two days later.

Evidence described in the record

The wounds and injuries described included blunt force head injuries and strangulation, with a shattered skull and broken jaw. Injury detail included track-like abrasions caused by a threaded device such as a pipe or scissors jack, lacerations on her head, a human bite mark on her back, and ligature marks around her neck. The wounds showed Holloway was trying to cover herself as she was being hit, and she had hairs clutched in her fingers. Several of the hairs were later determined to be similar to those of Humiston.

Quotes preserved from the record

Humiston was quoted describing actions and statements during the offence and its aftermath, including:

• “it had to be done”
• “it’s kind of shaken, kind of stirred up a little bit”
• “we’re going to have to do Terry, take her out.”
• “That will do.”
• “do this, this is a friend.”
• “snitch”
• “Let’s take care of it.”
• “all that guilty.”
• “couldn’t keep it in.”
• “take Terry out”
• “Just forget it.”
• “Rob, what are you doing?”
• “Why are you doing this to me, why are you doing this to my baby?”
• “Yeah, she pissed on me.”

Summary of constitutional and evidence issues discussed on appeal

The appellate discussion included the admissibility of Humiston’s statements made to retained psychologists during juvenile fitness proceedings and the admissibility of evidence of Humiston’s drug use since age 13. It also included the appellate evaluation of the admission of evidence that Humiston used the number 187 as a code by pager to communicate with Jurado before the crime and the determination that the error did not require reversal. The appellate court also discussed related jury instruction issues and the waiver resulting from failure to request a limiting instruction.