People v. Binns CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 26, 2022
DocketB312611
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Binns CA2/3 (People v. Binns CA2/3) 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
People v. Binns CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Filed 4/26/22 P. v. Binns CA2/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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(a). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115(a).

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, B312611

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA403335 v.

MARQUES SAYYED BINNS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, George G. Lomeli, Judge. Affirmed as modified and remanded with directions. Jean Ballantine, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Amanda V. Lopez and Viet H. Nguyen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. INTRODUCTION

In 2013, defendant Marques Sayyed Binns and a codefendant were convicted of murder; Binns, who was the getaway driver, was prosecuted as an aider and abettor under the natural and probable consequences doctrine. In 2019, after the Legislature abolished that theory of liability, Binns petitioned for recall and resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95. In 2021, on remand from this court, the trial court granted the petition and resentenced Binns to the target offense of assault with a firearm. On appeal, Binns argues that, based on his excess custody credits, his restitution fine should be deemed satisfied. The People concede the point, and we modify the judgment accordingly. Binns also argues that he should not be required to pay the victim restitution award because it was based on his murder conviction, which no longer stands, and his conduct underlying the assault conviction was not a substantial and proximate cause of the claimed financial losses. We reject Binns’s challenges to the victim restitution award. Because the resentencing minute order and amended abstract of judgment do not, however, reflect the sentencing proceedings, we remand for correction of the order and amended abstract of judgment.

2 BACKGROUND1

1. 2013 Murder Conviction By information filed October 24, 2012, Binns and codefendant Theron Hiraań Shakir were charged with one count of murder (Pen. Code,2 § 187, subd. (a); count 1) committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(4)). The information also alleged that Shakir personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, which proximately caused death (§ 12022.53, subds. (d) & (e)(1)) and that a principal personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, which proximately caused death (ibid.). The trial evidence established that on December 29, 2010, Taburi Watson was shot multiple times and killed near St. Andrews Park at 87th and St. Andrews. A bicycle was nearby in the street. A park employee heard the shots and later saw Watson lying on the ground and two people walking southbound on St. Andrews. Creonia Ward—Shakir’s former girlfriend—implicated Shakir, Timothy Allen, and Binns in the killing. Ward told detectives that Shakir, Allen, and Binns left her house. She also told detectives that on the night of the shooting, Shakir told her that Binns, Shakir, and Allen drove to the park. Binns remained

1 In his 2021 petition, Binns notes that his statement of facts was taken from this court’s 2015 opinion, People v. Binns (June 30, 2015, B250120) [nonpub. opn.] (Binns I).) Our factual and procedural summary is taken from Binns I and our 2020 opinion, People v. Binns (Sept. 22, 2020, B297560) [nonpub. opn.] (Binns II).

2 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

3 in the car while Shakir and Allen exited and later shot Watson, who had been on a bicycle. After the shooting, the three went to Binns’s mother’s house and hid the gun next door. The three later went to Ward’s house, where Binns said, “I can’t wait to tell Brandon, he’s going to be so happy.” Ward testified Binns’s cousin, Brandon, previously had been shot, and Binns, Shakir, and Allen felt they needed to retaliate. According to Detectives Myra Kellum and John Ferreria, Binns told them that he drove to St. Andrews Park, and Shakir and Allen exited the car. Shakir and Allen went through the park, saw someone, and started shooting. Binns said, “it would be a lie to say I didn’t know what they was fixing to start doing, but not till it was too late; that’s when we was already there.” (Sic.) After the shooting, Binns drove Shakir and Allen to Binns’s house and “[t]hen they told him that I hid some guns for them.” Binns also told detectives that Shakir was saying “it was like a favor to [Binns] to go and shoot.” At trial, the jury was instructed that it could convict Binns as an aider and abettor of murder if he either: (1) directly aided and abetted first or second degree murder; or (2) aided and abetted assault with a deadly weapon, and murder was a natural and probable consequence of that crime.3 In his closing argument, the prosecutor argued that Binns, by acting as the getaway driver, aided and abetted premeditated murder. He also argued, in the alternative, that even if Binns did not want to kill or help kill anyone, he could be guilty of second

3The jury was instructed with CALJIC Nos. 3.00, 3.01, 3.02, 9.00, 8.00, 8.10, 8.11, 8.20, 8.30, 8.70, 8.71, and 8.74.

4 degree murder by aiding and abetting assault with a firearm. The prosecutor explained: I know they’re looking for rivals. This is a logical place. Maybe they’re going to assault somebody with the firearms. Maybe they’ll shoot at them. Maybe they’ll hit them. Maybe they’ll miss. Maybe they’ll just try to scare them. Who knows? Under the law, you can still be guilty of murder. Because when you go around looking for rivals to shoot—whether you intend to kill or not—if you shoot them, and you are just thinking, “I’m going to assault them with a firearm,” and they end up dying, then that murder is what we call, in the law, a natural and probable consequence of the assault. Then everybody involved is guilty of the murder. The prosecutor emphasized that even if Binns was just “sitting in the car” and “didn’t share the same evil intent” as the shooters—“even if he’s just thinking, ‘they’re going out there; I’m here ready to help them; they’re just going to assault’ ”—he was still guilty of murder because he aided and abetted the assault. In January 2013, the jury convicted Binns of second degree murder. It found true the allegation that a principal personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, causing death, but found the gang allegation not true. Binns was sentenced to 15 years to life for count 1. Because the jury found the gang allegation not true, no sentence was imposed for the firearm enhancement. (§ 186.22, subd. (e)(1)(A).) The court imposed a $280 restitution fine under section 1202.4,

5 subdivision (b), and imposed and stayed an equal parole- revocation restitution fine under section 1202.45. The court also imposed a $40 court security assessment under section 1465.8, subdivision (a)(1), and a $30 criminal conviction assessment under Government Code section 70373. Finally, the court ordered Binns to pay victim restitution of $1,353 to the victim’s mother and $7,500 to the State Victim Compensation Board, for a total restitution award of $8,853, under section 1202.4, subdivision (f). Binns appealed, and the judgment was affirmed in Binns I. 2. Section 1170.95 Petition and Appeal On January 7, 2019, Binns filed a petition for resentencing under section 1170.95.

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

Related

People v. Wende
600 P.2d 1071 (California Supreme Court, 1979)
People v. Percelle
23 Cal. Rptr. 3d 731 (California Court of Appeal, 2005)
People v. Dillon
668 P.2d 697 (California Supreme Court, 1983)
People v. Brasure
175 P.3d 632 (California Supreme Court, 2008)
People v. Alford
171 P.3d 32 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Foalima
239 Cal. App. 4th 1376 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
People v. Morris
242 Cal. App. 4th 94 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
People v. Valenti
243 Cal. App. 4th 1140 (California Court of Appeal, 2016)
People v. Gonzalez
418 P.3d 841 (California Supreme Court, 2018)
People v. Gentile
477 P.3d 539 (California Supreme Court, 2020)
People v. Lewis
491 P.3d 309 (California Supreme Court, 2021)
People v. Scott
203 Cal. App. 4th 1303 (California Court of Appeal, 2012)
People v. Mays
223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 797 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Binns CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-binns-ca23-calctapp-2022.