P. v. Pitney CA1/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 6, 2013
DocketA128127
StatusUnpublished

This text of P. v. Pitney CA1/3 (P. v. Pitney CA1/3) 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
P. v. Pitney CA1/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 3/6/13 P. v. Pitney CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THREE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A128127 v. PHILLIP PITNEY, (City & County of San Francisco Super. Ct. No. 209488) Defendant and Appellant.

After a jury trial defendant Phillip Pitney was convicted of attempted murder “done willfully and with deliberation and premeditation” (Pen. Code,1 §§ 187, subd. (a), 664) (count one), assault with a semiautomatic firearm (§ 245, subd. (b)) (count two); and active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a)) (count three). As to counts one and two, the jury found true allegations of related sentence enhancements for firearm use, great bodily injury, and that the crimes were committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang. (§§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C), 12022.5, subd. (a), 12022.7, subd. (b), 12022.53, subd. (d).) As to count three, the jury found true allegations of related sentence enhancements for firearm use (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) and great bodily injury (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)). The jury also found true allegations that all counts were committed while defendant “was released from custody in a felony offense, on bail and on his own recognizance.” (§ 12022.1.) The trial court sentenced defendant on the first count (attempted murder) to an indeterminate term of life with a

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

1 minimum eligible parole date of 15 years (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(5)), plus a consecutive term of 25 years to life for the personal use and intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury during the commission of a life felony (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)).2 The court imposed and then stayed determinate sentences and related sentence enhancements on the other two counts. Defendant presents numerous arguments challenging his convictions and sentences. We conclude none of defendant’s arguments requires reversal of his convictions for attempted murder and assault or the jury’s true findings on related gang sentence enhancements. However, we agree with defendant that there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction for active gang participation, and we will reverse that conviction, the true findings of the sentence enhancements related to that count, and vacate the imposed sentences. We also conclude the matter must be remanded to correct certain sentencing errors. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND By an information filed August 10, 2009, defendant was charged with attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, active participation in a criminal street gang, and related sentencing enhancements. The following evidence was presented at the ensuing jury trial held in October 2009. On April 12, 2009, Easter Sunday, the victim Ladarius Greer was shot several times on McAllister Street (McAllister) outside an apartment complex known as the Prince Hall Apartments. The apartment complex encompasses almost an entire city block and has entrance gates on McAllister (south), Fillmore Street (west), and Golden Gate Avenue (north). All the apartment buildings in the complex are two levels. The second or top floor apartment on the McAllister side has a door facing the courtyard area or the apartment complex offices and at least one window facing McAllister.

2 As to count one, the court also stayed a two-year term imposed on the bail enhancement, and dismissed both the related section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1)(C) gang enhancement (People v. Lopez (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1002, 1007) and section 12022.7, subdivision (a), great-bodily-injury enhancement (§ 12022.53, subd. (f)).

2 On the day of the shooting as Elena Brancato was walking on McAllister she saw a “scuffle” between a young man wearing a hooded sweatshirt3 and the young victim wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. When it looked like the men were going to fight, she looked away because she did not want to watch the fight. She heard gunshots, and when she looked again, the young man wearing the white hooded sweatshirt was crossing the street and shooting a gun. Brancato heard about four or five gunshots but she did not see anyone get shot. As the gunman walked passed her shooting, Brancato “quietly walked away and kept on walking and never looked back.” She did not see the faces of the victim or the gunman or where the gunman went after the shooting. She was able to describe the gunman’s clothing and his physical characteristics except his facial features. Before the shooting firefighters Gavin McGoldrick and Stephanie McKnight had responded to a medical call at a ground level apartment at the Prince Hall complex on the Golden Gate Avenue side. At about 9 a.m., McGoldrick heard six to eight “real loud” gunshots right outside the apartment and he immediately ran toward the sound of the gunshots on McAllister. Seconds later, McGoldrick met a man running away from the shooting. McGoldrick described the physical characteristics of the man and his clothing.4 One of the man’s hands was in his pocket and McGoldrick did not see a gun. As they crossed paths inside the apartment complex, the man “pointed in the direction” and repeatedly yelled, “They are shooting back there.” At that time the man was “jogging fast.” McGoldrick then heard two unidentified persons from upper story apartments shouting “that was the shooter, that was the shooter.”5 McGoldrick turned around and

3 Brancato reportedly told the police that the gunman was wearing a “a white hoodie with multicolored blue and black triangles.” At trial Brancato described the gunman’s sweatshirt as primarily white with an overall pattern of geometric shapes of black and turquoise. 4 McGoldrick testified that the running man was wearing a white cotton “hoodie” with about four or five different colored designs on it. 5 On cross-examination, McGoldrick testified that when the people shouted from the apartments, he assumed they were referring to the man who had just passed him as he was the only person around. McGoldrick did not later talk to the shouters. The shouters were at windows that faced into the courtyard of the apartment complex, not at windows

3 chased the man who was by then running fast. McKnight also pursued the running man, whom she described by his physical characteristics and clothing.6 The running man stripped off his sweatshirt as he ran. McGoldrick grabbed the discarded sweatshirt and continued to chase the man but he and McKnight were unable to catch him. McGoldrick gave the sweatshirt to a police officer who put it into a paper evidence bag. The sweatshirt was later logged in as evidence in the case at the police station, and the sweatshirt was marked as defense exhibit A at the trial.7 About 30 minutes to two hours after the shooting, McGoldrick and McKnight separately viewed from 50 to over 170 photographs of known criminal gang members at the police station. McGoldrick identified a photograph of defendant as looking “a lot like” the man he chased through the apartment complex. In court McGoldrick identified defendant as looking like the selected photograph and the man he saw running through the complex. McKnight identified two photographs possibly looking like the man she had chased; one of the photos was of defendant. In court McKnight identified defendant as looking like the man she saw running from the apartment complex.

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

Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Tennessee v. Street
471 U.S. 409 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Taylor v. Illinois
484 U.S. 400 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Crawford v. Washington
541 U.S. 36 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Davis v. Washington
547 U.S. 813 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Whorton v. Bockting
549 U.S. 406 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Harrington v. Richter
131 S. Ct. 770 (Supreme Court, 2011)
United States v. Cruz-Diaz
550 F.3d 169 (First Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Sean Lamont Cromer
389 F.3d 662 (Sixth Circuit, 2004)
People v. Rodriguez
290 P.3d 1143 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Valdez
281 P.3d 924 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Livingston
274 P.3d 1132 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Fuiava
269 P.3d 568 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Ahmed
264 P.3d 822 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Xue Vang
262 P.3d 581 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Blacksher
259 P.3d 370 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Quang Minh Tran
253 P.3d 239 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Davis
309 P.2d 1 (California Supreme Court, 1957)
People v. Williams
940 P.2d 710 (California Supreme Court, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
P. v. Pitney CA1/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/p-v-pitney-ca13-calctapp-2013.