People v. Armstrong CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 11, 2014
DocketC064420
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Armstrong CA3 (People v. Armstrong CA3) 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
People v. Armstrong CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 8/11/14 P. v. Armstrong CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C064420

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 07F07665)

v.

NORWOOD ARMSTRONG,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Norwood Armstrong appeals following conviction of forcible oral copulation (Pen. Code, § 288a, subd. (c)(2)1 (Counts One and Two)), forcible rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2)(Count Three), second degree robbery (§ 211 (Count Four)), and kidnapping to commit sex offenses (§ 209 (Count Five)), with true findings on allegations that he personally used a firearm on all counts (§§ 12022.53, subd. (b)), and as to Counts One through Three, that he kidnapped the victim to commit a sex offense (§ 667.8), that

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code in effect at the time of defendant’s crimes.

1 the movement increased the risk of harm (§ 667.61, subd. (a) and (d)(2)), and in connection with the oral copulation and rape he kidnapped the victim and used a gun (§ 667.61, subd.(a) and (e)(1)(4)). Combined with an unrelated robbery case, defendant was sentenced to a total determinate sentence of 92 years 8 months, plus an indeterminate term of 25 years to life. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred by: (1) allowing DNA evidence of “random match probability” in this “cold hit” case, where the suspect was not randomly identified but was discovered in a database search of DNA profiles maintained by law enforcement; (2) excluding evidence to impeach prosecution DNA experts; (3) admitting evidence of possession of a different gun on different occasion to show defendant had access to guns; (4) instructing the jury on flight; (5) failing sua sponte to dismiss the second degree robbery count on the ground that it was time-barred by the statute of limitations; (6) instructing and sentencing on enhancements for kidnapping to commit a sex offense; (7) imposing jail classification and booking fees; (8) failing to update conduct credit for time served when defendant was resentenced on the unrelated robbery case; and (9) stating a midterm rather than a lower term sentence in the abstract of judgment on the unrelated robbery case. We reverse the judgment on Count Four, second degree robbery, because prosecution on that count was barred by the statute of limitations, stay the sentence on the section 667.8 enhancements for kidnapping to commit a sex offense, strike the jail/booking fees, and remand for resentencing and calculation of conduct credits. We otherwise affirm the judgment.2

2 On November 10, 2010, defendant filed in this court a request for judicial notice of a document excluded from evidence by the trial court--a Department of Justice memorandum from an unrelated case (People v. Smith (Sept. 29, 2011, C062513) [nonpub. opn.]), criticizing a prosecution expert who testified in this case. The People oppose judicial notice. We grant the request for judicial notice but as will become apparent, it does not help defendant’s appeal.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND An amended information filed January 21, 2010, charged defendant with the commission of crimes against one victim, Christy R., on July 22, 2001,3 as follows: Count One--forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)(2)) (defendant’s penis to victim’s mouth); Count Two--forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)(2)) (defendant’s mouth to victim’s vagina); Count Three--forcible rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2)); Count Four--second degree robbery (§ 211); Count Five--kidnapping to commit a sex offense (§ 209, subd. (b)(1)). Several enhancement allegations were also alleged. The information alleged defendant personally used a firearm on all counts (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)). As to the sex offenses in Counts One, Two and Three, the information alleged defendant kidnapped the victim to commit the sex offenses (§ 667.8, subd. (a)), that the defendant kidnapped the victim in violation of section 207 and that the movement substantially increased the risk of harm to the victim (§ 667.61, subds. (a) & (d)(2)), that defendant kidnapped the victim in violation of section 207 and personally used a deadly weapon or firearm in violation of section 12022.3, subdivision (a) (§ 667.61, subds. (a), (e)(1), & (4).) Trial Evidence Victim Christy R. testified that, on July 22, 2001, around 4:00 a.m., she drove to a friend’s apartment. After she parked and got out of the car, someone came out of the

3 Defendant’s brief alternately describes the crimes as happening on January 22 and July 22. Oddly enough, the reporter’s transcript shows the prosecution referring to both January and July in questioning the victim at trial. We use July 22 because that is the month used in the information, and July 22 is the date referenced in the testimony of the responding police officer and the testimony of the nurse practitioner who performed the sexual assault examination on the victim.

3 bushes. Startled, she dropped her handbag and keys and told the man, “You scared me.” The man displayed a black handgun, a revolver, with a barrel approximately six-inches long and told her to be quiet. He asked if she had money, and she said no. The man then said he wanted to go somewhere darker and more secluded. Afraid, she agreed to do whatever he wanted. He made her drive around the corner and park in a darkened residential area, while holding a gun to her head from the backseat. After she parked, he asked again for money, and she said she had none. He said, “Fine, then you’re going to have to please me sexually.” While still pointing the gun at her head, he told her to climb over the front seat to the back seat and orally copulate him. After she got into the backseat, defendant told her to orally copulate him and she complied. When she asked him to use a condom, he retorted he was going to “F you in your butt or ass now that you asked that.” Defendant told the victim to climb on top of him and he inserted his penis into her vagina. After intercourse, he ejaculated onto the car seat. According to the victim, defendant was “upset and freaking out” because he ejaculated. He used her sweatshirt to wipe it up. At some point during this episode defendant also orally copulated the victim. After the sex acts were over, he told her to lie on the floor and count to a thousand or he would shoot her. He took her driver’s license and ATM card and said if she called the police, he would come find her. He also took the sweatshirt he used to wipe his ejaculate off the seat. The victim could not identify the perpetrator because he would not let her look at him, but she told police he was a black male, mid-thirties, about six feet one inch tall, about 180 pounds, with a mustache and scruffy facial hair, like it was unshaven. She testified that she thought she also told an officer that the man had a haircut about two inches long. The parties stipulated that, at the time of the offense, defendant was 26 years old, about five feet ten inches tall, and about 190 pounds. In August 2001, county criminalist Jeffrey Herbert analyzed one of three vaginal swabs taken from the victim for DNA. He separated the sperm fraction and developed a

4 13-loci DNA profile for the major donor. Herbert then uploaded the DNA profile to CODIS (combined DNA index systems) database. By the time of trial,4 the State CODIS database included DNA samples from one to two million people, and the national CODIS database had about seven million people. The database searches for matching profiles.

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People v. Armstrong CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-armstrong-ca3-calctapp-2014.