In re D.N. CA1/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 7, 2014
DocketA140225
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re D.N. CA1/1 (In re D.N. CA1/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re D.N. CA1/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 11/7/14 In re D.N. CA1/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

In re D.N., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

THE PEOPLE, A140225

Plaintiff and Respondent, (San Francisco City & County v. Super. Ct. No. JW13-6116) D.N., Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant D.N., a minor, appeals after the juvenile court sustained a wardship petition (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602, subd. (a)) alleging he committed first degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 212.5, subd. (a); count one) and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(4); count two).1 The court sustained the allegations after a contested jurisdictional hearing. The court later granted D.N.’s motion to set aside the assault adjudication (count two). The court declared D.N. a ward, ordered out-of-home placement, and imposed terms and conditions of probation. D.N. contends the evidence was insufficient to prove he was the perpetrator of the robbery. We affirm the judgment.

1 The petition also alleged that, on a different occasion, D.N. unlawfully carried a concealed firearm (Pen. Code, § 25400, subd. (c)(4); count three), carried a loaded firearm in public (Pen. Code, § 25850, subd. (c)(4); count four), and resisted a peace officer in the performance of his or her duties (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1); count five). D.N. admitted count three; counts four and five were dismissed.

1 I. BACKGROUND On January 13, 2013, R.B. was en route to a friend’s house to watch a football game. While waiting at a Muni train stop, he saw a person (whom R.B. later identified as D.N.) at the stop, and they both boarded the same Muni train. R.B. said the person he saw was wearing jeans, a black jacket, and a red beanie. During the ride, R.B. was using his mobile phone to check sports scores. When the train reached a stop, the person R.B. had seen while waiting for the train grabbed R.B.’s phone out of his hand and ran out of the train. R.B. chased the suspect off the train, around the back of the train, and then back toward the front. R.B. caught up with the suspect, grabbed the front of his jacket, and pulled him to the ground. At this point, R.B. saw the suspect was an African-American male, wore dreadlocks, and was smaller and younger than R.B. The suspect fell on top of R.B., and they were “chest to chest.” R.B. continued to hold onto the suspect, who hit R.B. five to 10 times in the face. R.B. fought back, hitting the suspect in the face. Two or three girls who had been on the train attempted to help the suspect by hitting R.B. People on the train and on the street watched the struggle. Adults arrived and restrained the suspect and R.B. The suspect and R.B. accused each other of stealing the phone. The adults eventually decided R.B. was telling the truth and released him. The suspect dropped the phone. R.B. picked it up, recognizing it by its case. R.B. “looked around and realized I was at a place I didn’t want to be.” Satisfied because he had recovered his phone, R.B. decided to leave without waiting for the police to arrive. Both R.B. and the suspect, who was also released, left the area, walking in opposite directions. R.B. estimated this was about five to 10 minutes after he grabbed the suspect. R.B. saw that the train he had previously been riding had stopped, so he boarded it. Police officers, including Officer Antonio Santos, had responded to the scene and were on the train, and R.B. gave them a description of the suspect. The officers later drove around the area, but were unable to find R.B.’s assailant.

2 As a result of the incident, R.B. had “markings” on his face and a bruised and skinned right knee. His knee had not fully healed at the time of the jurisdictional hearing, four months after the incident. A few days after the incident, Officer Santos and other officers watched a Muni surveillance video of the incident. Santos, who was familiar with D.N.’s appearance from seeing him on a number of occasions while patrolling the Lakeview neighborhood of San Francisco and from seeing D.N. in photographs and videos, recognized the suspect shown on the video as D.N. Santos based his identification on similarities between D.N. and the suspect, including the suspect’s facial features, dreadlocks, mannerisms, black jacket with a North Face logo, and red beanie with a ball on top. When he watched the video, Santos was “[p]retty certain” the suspect shown in the video was D.N. Police did not immediately arrest D.N. because they were unable to find him, despite looking for him throughout the Lakeview neighborhood. Police did not know his true name, knowing him only by the nickname “ ‘Doopa.’ ” On March 5, 2013, Officer Santos saw on Facebook a photograph of D.N. with the caption “ ‘posted just now[.]’ ” Santos recognized the building in the background of the photograph, and he drove to the area, where he saw D.N. walking away. When questioned, D.N. initially gave a false name, denied knowledge of an incident on Muni and said he did not ride Muni, but ultimately told officers his name. As we discuss below, D.N. presented a defense of mistaken identification. II. DISCUSSION A. Standard of Review “Our review of [D.N.’s] substantial evidence claim is governed by the same standard applicable to adult criminal cases. [Citation.] ‘In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must determine “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” [Citation.]’ [Citation.] ‘ “[O]ur role on appeal is a limited one.” [Citation.] Under the substantial evidence rule, we must presume in support of the judgment the existence of every fact that the trier of fact could

3 reasonably have deduced from the evidence. [Citation.] Thus, if the circumstances reasonably justify the trier of fact’s findings, the opinion of the reviewing court that the circumstances might also reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding does not warrant reversal of the judgment. [Citation.]’ [Citation.]” (In re V.V. (2011) 51 Cal.4th 1020, 1026.) Before the judgment of the trial court can be set aside for insufficiency of the evidence, “it must clearly appear that upon no hypothesis whatever is there sufficient substantial evidence to support it.” (People v. Redmond (1969) 71 Cal.2d 745, 755.) An appellate court may not reevaluate the credibility of witnesses. (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206 (Ochoa).) B. Sufficiency of the Evidence Substantial evidence supports the juvenile court’s determination D.N. was the perpetrator. The victim, R.B., identified D.N. as the perpetrator at the jurisdictional hearing. R.B. testified he was “pretty sure,” or “around 75 percent sure,” D.N. was the person who robbed him. “Identification of the defendant by a single eyewitness may be sufficient to prove the defendant’s identity as the perpetrator of a crime.” (People v. Boyer (2006) 38 Cal.4th 412, 480 (Boyer); see Evid. Code, § 411.) “[W]hen the circumstances surrounding the identification and its weight are explored at length at trial, where eyewitness identification is believed by the trier of fact, that determination is binding on the reviewing court.” (In re Gustavo M. (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 1485, 1497.) In contending there was not substantial evidence, D.N. emphasizes three eyewitnesses called by the defense testified the perpetrator was a girl and was not D.N.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kent v. United States
383 U.S. 541 (Supreme Court, 1966)
In Re GAULT
387 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Morrissey v. Brewer
408 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Gagnon v. Scarpelli
411 U.S. 778 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Vitek v. Jones
445 U.S. 480 (Supreme Court, 1980)
United States v. Gary Thomas Butcher
557 F.2d 666 (Ninth Circuit, 1977)
People v. V.V.
252 P.3d 979 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Cuevas
906 P.2d 1290 (California Supreme Court, 1995)
People v. Redmond
457 P.2d 321 (California Supreme Court, 1969)
People v. Wright
755 P.2d 1049 (California Supreme Court, 1988)
People v. Ochoa
864 P.2d 103 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Steven B.
598 P.2d 480 (California Supreme Court, 1979)
In Re Sturm
521 P.2d 97 (California Supreme Court, 1974)
In Re Pipinos
654 P.2d 1257 (California Supreme Court, 1982)
People v. Johnny G.
601 P.2d 196 (California Supreme Court, 1979)
In Re Marriage of Flaherty
646 P.2d 179 (California Supreme Court, 1982)
People v. Gould
354 P.2d 865 (California Supreme Court, 1960)
People v. Gustavo M.
214 Cal. App. 3d 1485 (California Court of Appeal, 1989)
JUAN T. v. Superior Court
49 Cal. App. 3d 207 (California Court of Appeal, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
In re D.N. CA1/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-dn-ca11-calctapp-2014.