People v. Caldwell CA1/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 26, 2014
DocketA132665
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Caldwell CA1/3 (People v. Caldwell 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
People v. Caldwell CA1/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 2/26/14 P. v. Caldwell CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, A132665 v. WILLIE CALDWELL, (San Francisco County Super. Ct. No. 214806) Defendant and Appellant.

Willie Caldwell (appellant) appeals from a judgment entered after a jury found him guilty of receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. (a)).1 He contends that the admission of an absent victim’s statements to police violated the (1) confrontation clause and (2) the hearsay rule. We reject the contention and affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND An information was filed March 11, 2011, charging appellant with: (1) robbery (§ 211, count I); and (2) receipt of stolen property (§ 496, subd. (a), count II). The information also alleged that appellant had served two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). At a jury trial, San Francisco Patrol Sergeant Joseph McCloskey testified that on January 1, 2011, around 2:44 p.m., he and his partner were on routine patrol in a patrol car heading southbound on Market Street towards Sixth Street when approximately three pedestrians ran into the middle of the street and flagged them down, “pointing down

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

1 [Sixth] Street” and excitedly yelling that a woman “just got robbed” by a black male who was wearing a black jacket or a blue jacket. McCloskey called dispatch to report a “possible robbery.” McCloskey and his partner drove a short distance towards Sixth Street and encountered a man and a woman at the first alley down Sixth Street. The man waved the officers down, pointed down Sixth Street, and yelled, “she’s just been robbed, there he goes.” The woman was “very distraught” and crying and “kept pulling” her “veil” over her eyes. The officers placed the woman in the patrol car. McCloskey’s interaction with the man and woman lasted less than 10 seconds. The officers drove a short distance towards another alley, where McCloskey saw more “animated” people flailing their arms and pointing and yelling, saying, “there he goes, blue jacket, blue jacket.” One man was running and pointing towards a hotel at 93 Sixth Street, saying, “he is going in the hotel, he is going in right there.” The officers pulled up to the hotel and McCloskey ran in the front door and up the stairs. He estimated that “at most” two minutes passed between the time he and his partner were first flagged down to the time he entered the hotel. There was no one in the hotel, but he heard some footsteps, so he ran down the hallway towards the area from where the sound was coming. At that point, a door that had a sign that read “garbage” opened and appellant stepped out towards him. The room from which appellant came out contained large garbage cans “where you deposit the garbage from the rooms.” Appellant was a black man and was wearing a blue and black jacket. McCloskey told appellant to get on the floor, and appellant complied. Numerous other officers showed up and appellant was handcuffed and escorted downstairs to the sidewalk. McCloskey told another officer, Calvin Lew, to “get the cold show admonition going.” Another officer, Jordan Oryall, handed McCloskey a pink cell phone but did not indicate where he had gotten the phone.2 McCloskey entered the patrol car in which the

2 Oryall testified that he found the phone in appellant’s pocket. He had gone to the hotel in response to a robbery call, and by the time he arrived and ran up the stairs, appellant was already being handcuffed. Oryall searched appellant for weapons and felt a

2 woman was sitting and asked, “is that him?” The woman replied, “yes.” The woman’s hands were “shaky” and she was still pulling on her veil. There were tear stains on her face and her eyes were very wet and puffy. At the time he entered the patrol car, McCloskey thought the woman’s purse had been stolen, because “purse snatch[es]” are common in his patrol area. McCloskey therefore asked the woman what color her purse was. The woman responded, “It wasn’t my purse. It was my cell phone. And that’s my cell phone [the phone that McCloskey was holding] because I had it in my hand.” On cross-examination, McCloskey said he initially believed there was more than one suspect because it was not clear whether the pedestrians, who were yelling, were referring to one or more than one suspect. He may have told dispatch that “suspects” had entered the hotel. McCloskey did not recall telling dispatch that the suspect, who was five feet, eight inches, was “tall,” even though the dispatch report stated, “tall, blue jacket.” McCloskey testified that some of the pedestrians said the suspect’s jacket was blue and some said it was black; no one said it was blue and black. McCloskey did not recall seeing appellant wearing a hat, even though a hat was found when appellant was booked into jail. On re-direct examination, McCloskey testified that when he relays information to dispatch, “a lot of times” he can hear them tapping on the keys as they are trying to enter the information as quickly as possible, and that “little mistake[s]” can occur. He testified that when he said “suspects,” he did not necessarily mean there were two or more suspects. As he got more information, it became clear to him that there was just one suspect. Officer Lew testified that on the day of the incident he and his partner were on duty when they heard a dispatch call and responded to the hotel. They arrived at the hotel a minute or two minutes later, and he went inside a patrol car in which the victim was sitting. The victim appeared to have been crying and was frightened, and was breathing heavily as if she was hyperventilating. Appellant came down the stairs and the victim

square object in appellant’s pocket. He retrieved a cell phone and gave the phone to McCloskey at the scene.

3 identified appellant. McCloskey asked about a purse but the victim said, “it’s not a purse. It’s my phone.” The victim described the phone, and McCloskey showed a pink iPhone to the victim. The victim said, “yeah, that’s my phone.” The parties stipulated that appellant did not live at the hotel. Lew testified that he did not know whether appellant knew anyone at the hotel. The manager of the hotel testified for the defense. He testified that the hotel had working surveillance cameras inside the hotel on the day of the incident. There was no one working at the front desk that day. No one from the police department called to inquire about obtaining surveillance videos from that day. On cross-examination, he testified that he had worked at the hotel for 10 years and had no recollection of appellant living there or visiting the hotel. He knew of no reason for appellant to be inside the garbage room. The trial court granted appellant’s motion for a directed verdict of acquittal on the robbery count. Thereafter, the jury returned a guilty verdict on count II, receiving stolen property. The jury found true the prior prison terms. The trial court sentenced appellant to five years, consisting of the upper term of three years on count II and two consecutive one-year enhancements for the two prison priors. DISCUSSION Evidence Code section 402 hearing3 McCloskey and Lew testified in a pre-trial Evidence Code section 402 hearing to resolve appellant’s confrontation and hearsay objections.

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

Related

Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Crawford v. Washington
541 U.S. 36 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Davis v. Washington
547 U.S. 813 (Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. McKinnon
259 P.3d 1186 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Farmer
765 P.2d 940 (California Supreme Court, 1989)
People v. Waidla
996 P.2d 46 (California Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Morrison
101 P.3d 568 (California Supreme Court, 2004)
People v. Cage
155 P.3d 205 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Lynch
237 P.3d 416 (California Supreme Court, 2010)
Michigan v. Bryant
179 L. Ed. 2d 93 (Supreme Court, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Caldwell CA1/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-caldwell-ca13-calctapp-2014.