People v. Cervantes CA2/7

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 8, 2014
DocketB244992
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Cervantes CA2/7 (People v. Cervantes CA2/7) 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. Cervantes CA2/7, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 9/8/14 P. v. Cervantes CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B244992

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA377894) v.

MICHAEL ANTHONY CERVANTES,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. James N. Bianco, Judge. Affirmed.

Orly Ahrony and Christopher W. Blaylock for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters and Mary Sanchez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

___________________________________ INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted Michael Anthony Cervantes of attempted robbery, carjacking, unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle (“joyriding”) and robbery and found true related gang and firearm allegations. The trial court sentenced Cervantes to state prison for a term of 15 years to life plus 10 years. Cervantes appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and claiming one witness’s testimony was improperly admitted. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY September 19, 2010.1 At about 3:20 a.m. on September 19, 2010, Cesar Bugarin was leaving work in his red 2003 Dodge Ram truck when a silver Avalanche with four passengers inside pulled up in front of Bugarin and blocked his path. Two bald Hispanic males between the ages of 17 and 19 wearing big loose shirts got out of the Avalanche and approached Bugarin. Based on their appearance, Bugarin believed they were gang members. One pointed a “silver chrome plated” gun to Bugarin’s temple and told him to get out of the truck. The men took Bugarin’s cell phone, hat, credit cards and $800 in cash and drove away in Bugarin’s truck. September 24, 2010. At about 8:30 a.m. on September 24, 2010, Christopher Hall was listening to music on his iPod while sitting at a bus stop in front of the animal hospital where his cousin worked. A red Dodge Ram truck with two male Hispanic teenagers inside pulled up beside Hall. Cervantes—the driver—wore an Atlanta Braves baseball cap with an

1 At trial, Cervantes was acquitted of robbery and carjacking counts relating to these events involving Bugarin (counts 7 and 8), but because these facts are relevant to a subsequent crime for which Cervantes was convicted (joyriding, count 4), we briefly summarize them here.

2 “A” on it.2 Cervantes and his passenger started “throwing ‘A’” gang signs at Hall and saying “What’s up nigger, fuck niggers,” and “[g]ive me everything you got.” The passenger had trouble getting out of the truck for some reason so Hall was able to run to the animal hospital. A woman inside the animal hospital (Veronica Aparicio) heard the commotion, saw the red truck and then saw Hall run to the door, saying he was “getting robbed.” She came outside and wrote down the red truck’s license plate number when it circled back around the block. As she spoke with the 9-1-1 operator to report what had happened, one of the truck’s occupants called out something threatening like, “‘I know where you work at[,’] like trying to say he’s going to come back.” September 25, 2010. The following day, at about 11:50 a.m., Michael Murillo and his two friends Juan Cazares and Emilio Gomez were installing a stereo in Murillo’s Honda Accord. Murillo went inside his house to grab a screwdriver, but as he walked back out, he saw two Hispanic males with guns had approached Cazares and Gomez and were asking where they were from, which they understood to mean a request for their gang affiliation. They said, “Nowhere,” meaning “We don’t gang bang.” One of the gunmen said, “Avenues[,]” and “I know Highland Park lives here in this house.”3 Murillo and his friends said “No one from Highland Park lives here.” One of the men pointed a “silver-ish” colored handgun at Murillo and directed him and his friends to empty their pockets. That man and the other one with a revolver then told Murillo and his friends to take off their pants. When Cazares “backed away a little

2 On September 30, 2010, when a police officer showed Hall a six-pack photographic lineup, Hall identified Cervantes as the driver of the truck. At trial (two years later), he initially testified Cervantes was the passenger but then acknowledged his memory of the incident was better on September 30, 2010 than at the time of trial.

3 At trial, Cazares and Gomez explained Highland Park and Avenues are rival gangs in Murillo’s neighborhood. 3 bit,” the one with the handgun “pistol whipped” Cazares, hitting him across the side of his face. The same gunman directed Murillo and his friends to put the speakers in the trunk of Murillo’s car, and they complied. Then the two gunmen got into Murillo’s car and drove off. Murillo called 9-1-1 (twice), and two officers arrived at his home about 40 minutes later. Murillo told Officer Gabriel Rivas and his partner the person with the handgun was “Buster from Avenues, Carlos’[s] brother.” Murillo said he had gone to high school with Cervantes’s brother Carlos. Murillo’s car was recovered a few houses away from Cervantes’s residence. September 27, 2010. At about 1:20 a.m. on September 27, 2010, Los Angeles Police Department Officers Fernando Salcedo and Francisco Serrano were on patrol when a red Dodge truck caught their attention. In “roll call” that evening, they had just been “briefed” about a red Dodge truck taken at gunpoint so they checked the truck’s license plate and verified that it was the same truck (belonging to Cesar Bugarin) involved in the prior carjacking. Officer Serrano requested additional units to assist with a traffic stop while Officer Salcedo drove, following the red truck. After a few blocks, the red truck sped up and then turned onto a smaller street where it stopped at an angle, blocking all traffic. Cervantes and a female passenger jumped out of the truck and ran in different directions. Cervantes looked directly at Officer Serrano. The female passenger was found hiding in a yard nearby and taken into custody, but the officers were unable to find Cervantes that night. When the officers impounded Bugarin’s red Dodge truck, they also recovered a digital camera inside which contained photographs of Cervantes in Bugarin’s truck and wearing Bugarin’s hat. Cervantes was later taken into custody and charged with the following crimes: count 1, the attempted robbery of Christopher Hall on September 24, 2010 (Pen. Code, §§

4 664 & 211 [all further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code]); count 2, the carjacking of Michael Murillo on September 25, 2010 (§ 215, subd. (a)); count 4, unlawful driving or taking of Cesar Bugarin’s Dodge Ram truck on September 27, 2010 (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)); and count 5, the second degree robbery of Michael Murillo on September 25, 2010 (§ 211).4 Except as to counts 2 and 4, it was further alleged Cervantes had committed all of the offenses for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)); that Cervantes personally used a firearm during the commission of count 2 (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)) and count 6 (§§ 12022.53, subd. (b), 12022.5, subds. (a) & (d)) and that a principal personally used a firearm in the commission of counts 2 and 5 through 8 (§ 12022.53, subds. (b) & (e)(1)). At trial, the People presented evidence of the facts summarized above. Murillo’s two 9-1-1 calls were played for the jury.

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People v. Cervantes CA2/7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-cervantes-ca27-calctapp-2014.