People v. Brewer CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 15, 2023
DocketF082631
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Brewer CA5 (People v. Brewer CA5) 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. Brewer CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Filed 5/15/23 P. v. Brewer CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, F082631 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. F19902558) v.

ROBERT CRAIG BREWER, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno County. Timothy A. Kams, Judge. James S. Thomson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, and Laura Ann Douglas for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen and Brook A. Bennigson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo- INTRODUCTION Defendant Robert Craig Brewer fired a firearm multiple times into a vehicle occupied by two adults and a two-year-old child. A bullet also entered a separate vehicle being driven in the area. A jury found defendant guilty of three counts of willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder (Pen. Code,1 §§ 187, subd. (a), 664; counts 1-3), two counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle (§ 246; counts 4 & 5), being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1); count 6), and unlawful possession of ammunition (§ 30305, subd. (a)(1); count 7). On counts 1 through 5, the jury also found firearm enhancements to be true (§ 12022.53, subd. (c)).2 Defendant admitted two prior strike convictions (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)). Gang allegations to counts 6 and 7 were dismissed on motion by the People and, in a bifurcated trial, the jury found gang allegations to counts 1 through 5 to be not proven. The court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of 166 years to life, as follows: On each of counts 1 through 3, the court sentenced defendant to consecutive terms of 27 years to life, plus 20 years for the firearm enhancements. The court sentenced defendant on each of counts 4 and 6 to concurrent terms of 25 years to life, and on count 5 to a consecutive term of 25 years to life. On count 7, the court imposed and stayed a six-year term. (Former § 654.) On appeal, defendant argues (1) the trial court erred in admitting evidence from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system under Kelly3; (2) the evidence is insufficient to

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2The trial court later struck the firearm enhancements to counts 4 and 5 as inapplicable. 3 “Formerly known as the Kelly-Frye rule, based on the rulings of People v. Kelly (1976) 17 Cal.3d 24 . . . (Kelly) and Frye v. U.S. (D.C. Cir. 1923) 293 F. 1013 [Frye], the rule is now the Kelly rule in California after changes to the Federal Rules of Evidence that superseded Frye.” (People v. Nieves (2021) 11 Cal.5th 404, 442, fn. 8

2. support his conviction for attempted murder on count 3 because the evidence did not establish he knew the two-year-old child was in the vehicle; (3) the prosecutor committed misconduct in arguing the jury could convict on count 3 even if defendant did not know the child was in the car; (4) the court erred in not staying his sentence on count 4 under former section 654; (5) the matter should be remanded for resentencing in light of Senate Bill No. 567 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 567) because the court imposed an upper-term sentence on counts 1 through 3 without complying with the requirements of the amended law; (6) alternatively, if the court did not impose an upper-term sentence on counts 1 through 3, the matter nonetheless should be remanded for resentencing because the court erred under section 12022.53, subdivision (f) in imposing two firearm enhancements on each of these counts; and, finally, (7) his enhancements should be stricken on resentencing in light of Senate Bill No. 81 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 81). Additionally, in relation to count 4, we requested supplemental briefing on the effect of Assembly Bill No. 518 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2021, ch. 441) (Assembly Bill No. 518), which amended section 654 to provide trial courts discretion in choosing which sentences should be stayed pursuant to that section. In supplemental briefing, defendant contends remand is required for resentencing pursuant to Assembly Bill No. 518. We conclude the judgment must be modified to reflect the sentence on count 4 is stayed pursuant to section 654. In all other respects, we reject defendant’s contentions and affirm the judgment.

(Nieves).) Although defendant characterizes his argument as arising under Kelly/Frye, we will refer to this as the Kelly rule.

3. FACTS I. THE SHOOTING On January 17, 2019, at approximately 11:09 a.m., Rashad H. was driving his black Dodge Charger in the area of South Eunice and Chester Riggins Avenues in Fresno. Rashad’s cousin, Anthony H., was in the front passenger seat and Rashad’s two- year-old son, R.H., was in the back seat. As Rashad drove on South Eunice, gunshots were fired into his car. Once the shooting started, Anthony jumped into the back seat and wrapped R.H. in his arms. Rashad fled on East California Avenue, where more shots were fired into his car. He eventually drove to his aunt’s house on Plumas Street. Rashad did not hear the gunshots himself, but was alerted to the shooting by Anthony. He did not see who fired the shots and did not know who did the shooting. Rashad testified that he grew up in the area of the shooting and knew it to be “[s]omewhat” of a high-crime area where daily shootings occurred.4 At the time of the shooting, Zachary G. was driving a Mitsubishi Montero SUV on East California Avenue. He saw two Dodge Chargers “flying by.” Zachary heard gunshots and heard the glass in his rear window crack. A bullet shattered his rear window before bouncing off the vehicle’s visor. He identified an orange Charger and a black Charger as the cars that passed him when his window was shot out. He did not see any shooting. Zachary pulled into the parking lot of a nearby high school. An expended bullet was found on his front passenger floorboard.

4 Rashad also admitted to having a 2018 conviction for conspiracy to distribute narcotics.

4. II. SHOTSPOTTER EVIDENCE ShotSpotter, Inc. (ShotSpotter) employee P. Greene testified at trial regarding the ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection and location system used by the Fresno Police Department. He provided a detailed explanation of the functioning of the ShotSpotter system, as described in greater detail below. On the date of the shooting, ShotSpotter detected six gunshots fired within approximately two seconds of each other at 11:08 a.m. near an address in the 2200 block of South Eunice Street. The ShotSpotter data indicated the shooter was traveling northbound at approximately 41.3 miles per hour. Less than a minute later, the system detected a single shot at an address in the 800 block of East California Avenue, followed by 13 shots fired within approximately five seconds of each other at 11:09 a.m. near a different address in the 800 block of East California Avenue. The data indicated the shooter was driving westbound at 66.5 miles per hour.5 III. 911 CALLS A 911 caller at 11:09:46 a.m. reported that multiple shots had been fired from a black Dodge Charger that was driving down California Avenue. The caller reported that four to 10 shots had been fired, and additional shots could be heard while the caller was on the phone. A 911 caller at 11:10:24 a.m.

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People v. Brewer CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-brewer-ca5-calctapp-2023.