P. v. Rucker CA2/7

California Court of Appeal·Decided May 21, 2013·No. B237359·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 5/21/13 P. v. Rucker CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

THE PEOPLE, B237359

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA070942) v.

DARRELL RUCKER,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Jesse I. Rodriguez, Judge. Affirmed in part. Alex Coolman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Blythe J. Leszkay, Brendan Sullivan and Carl N. Henry, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_______________________ Darrell Rucker, Sr. was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing Malcolm Youngblood. He appeals his conviction and sentence, arguing that the jury was improperly instructed and that the trial court erred in finding that he had suffered a prior juvenile adjudication. He also seeks review of the court‟s ruling in response to his request to discover personnel records of various police officers. We find that there was insufficient evidence to support the court‟s finding that he had suffered a prior juvenile adjudication but otherwise affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Darrell Rucker, Sr. shot and killed his nephew Malcolm Youngblood on July 10, 2006. He was tried and convicted of murder. In 2009, this court reversed the murder conviction on the grounds that the trial court had conducted proceedings before the jury that should have occurred outside the jury‟s presence, during which the jury was exposed to statements that would have led a reasonable juror to believe that the court believed the defendant was a liar attempting to manipulate the proceedings. (People v. Rucker (Dec. 15, 2009, B203503) [nonpub. opn.].) The matter was retried before a new judge. The bulk of the evidence against Rucker came from police interviews of his son, Darrell Rucker, Jr. (known as “Junior”). Junior witnessed the shooting and spoke with the police that day, giving both recorded and unrecorded statements. Rucker also testified, and a police interview he gave shortly after the crime was played for the jury. The prosecution presented evidence that Rucker shot Youngblood multiple times without provocation after Youngblood complained about a malfunctioning car that Rucker had sold him. Rucker claimed that he acted in self-defense and to defend his son: that Youngblood had threatened him and a mechanic friend days before the shooting, and that on the morning of the shooting Youngblood threatened him again, leading to a moment when Rucker believed Youngblood was holding or was reaching for a weapon to shoot Rucker and Junior. The jury was instructed on first degree murder, second degree

2 murder, manslaughter (heat of passion and imperfect self-defense), and justifiable homicide in self-defense or defense of another. The jury convicted Rucker of voluntary manslaughter. Rucker appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. CALCRIM No. 505

Rucker contends that the trial court erred when it gave CALCRIM No. 505, the instruction on justifiable homicide in self defense or defense of another, without bracketed language in the instruction concerning threats to the defendants from others reasonably associated with the decedent. Rucker contends that the trial court should have included this language: “If you find that the defendant received a threat from someone else that he reasonably associated with Youngblood, you may consider that threat in deciding whether the defendant was justified in acting in self-defense.” The court was the first to raise the question of which, if any, of the various bracketed passages in CALCRIM No. 505 was appropriate here. The court specifically noted, “I have a question mark as to” the language about threats from someone associated with the victim, and said, “I‟ll stand to be corrected, but I can‟t find it in my notes or in my mind that evidence has been presented.” Defense counsel spoke with Rucker, asked to come back to the issue later, and then said, “I can‟t think of anything at this moment right now. If I do, I‟ll let the court know.” The court said, “I‟ll leave that one in abeyance here just in case.” Later, the court reminded counsel, “505 I‟m going to give, but we had not talked about the other two paragraphs. We were waiting, Mr. Na [defense counsel], to decide on the paragraph, if you found that the defendant received a threat from someone else that he reasonably associated it with Malcolm Youngblood.” Defense counsel responded, “If the court considers the possible—the shootout issue that was made in the defendant‟s taped statement. Otherwise, I submit.” The court said, “No, I do not,” and gave the instruction without the additional bracketed language.

3 Rucker argues this was error because the court edited CALCRIM No. 505 “in a legally incorrect manner,” and contends that antecedent threats are a general principle of law upon which the court was required to instruct the jury.1 This argument is contrary to the law, and the instruction as given was legally correct. A trial court must instruct the jury concerning antecedent threats and/or assaults only when the instruction is specifically requested: “The trial court was obligated to instruct on the basic principles of self-defense. It satisfied this duty by giving the standard . . . instructions on this topic. These instructions are legally correct and the concept of antecedent assaults is fully consistent with the general principles that are addressed therein. [Citation.] The issue of the effect of antecedent assaults against defendant on the reasonableness of defendant‟s timing and degree of force highlights a particular aspect of this defense and relates to a particular piece of evidence. An instruction on the topic of antecedent assaults is analogous to a clarifying instruction. It is axiomatic that „[a] defendant who believes that an instruction requires clarification must request it.‟ [Citation.] Therefore, we conclude that this is a „specific point‟ and is not a general principle of law; the trial court was not obligated to instruct on this issue absent request.” (People v. Garvin (2003) 110 Cal.App.4th 484, 489 [CALJIC instructions given].) As the Supreme Court has written, “[I]f defendant believed the instructions required clarification or modification, it was incumbent upon him to request it.” (People v. Rodrigues (1994) 8 Cal.4th 1060, 1140.) Here, counsel never requested that this language be included in the jury instruction. Instead, the court repeatedly asked whether defense counsel believed the evidence merited the inclusion of the optional language. Counsel first stated that he knew of no evidentiary basis for the language; then, when the court later invited comment once more, Rucker‟s counsel mentioned some evidence in the defendant‟s police interview but left the determination to the court‟s discretion.

1 Rucker cites People v. Minifee (1996) 13 Cal.4th 1055, at page 1060, to support his claim that “[w]here self-defense is at issue, the jury must be instructed that it may consider threats by individuals reasonably associated with the victim,” but Minifee concerns the admissibility of third-party threats, not jury instructions. (Ibid.)

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