People v. Crawford CA1/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 10, 2013
DocketA134564M
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Crawford CA1/1 (People v. Crawford CA1/1) 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. Crawford CA1/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 10/10/13 P. v. Crawford CA1/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, A134564 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Alameda County v. Super. Ct. No. 165116) OTIS MIGUEL CRAWFORD, ORDER MODIFYING OPINION AND Defendant and Appellant. DENYING REHEARING

[NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT]

THE COURT: It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on September 11, 2013, be modified as follows: 1. On page 5, after the first partial paragraph on the page and before section II.B., add the following two paragraphs and new footnote 3, which will require renumbering of all subsequent footnotes: While defendant does not expressly argue the need for unanimity on the facts supporting an enhancement allegation, he does cite to People v. Robbins (1989) 209 Cal.App.3d 261 (Robbins), which, he claims, holds that a unanimity instruction is required when “there is evidence of multiple, distinguishable acts on which jurors could rely in making true findings on an enhancement.” That seriously mischaracterizes the holding of Robbins, which is entirely consistent with our decision. The defendant in Robbins was charged with sexual assault and an enhancement for the infliction of great bodily injury. (Id. at p. 263.) In the course of the assault, he had inflicted a multitude of injuries on the victim, some serious and some less so. The defendant argued a unanimity instruction was required with respect to which particular injury supported the enhancement allegation. (Id. at p. 264.) The court rejected the argument for essentially the reasons stated above: that the unanimity doctrine comes into play only when there is evidence of more than one “separate chargeable offense.” It was not triggered merely because there were several separate injuries. (Id. at pp. 265–266.)

Notwithstanding its holding, Robbins did state in dictum, “ ‘A unanimity instruction is required only if the jurors could otherwise disagree which act a defendant committed and yet convict him of the crime charged.’ [Citation.] The same reasoning should, in general, apply to enhancements as well as the crimes that underlie them.” (Robbins, supra, 209 Cal.App.3d at p. 265.) As stated above, we have found no case, and defendant cites no case, that actually employs the Robbins dictum in requiring unanimity on the acts underlying a sentencing enhancement.3 The reason is straightforward. While it is perhaps conceivable in theory that the acts proven in support of an enhancement allegation could constitute more than one separate, independent chargeable offense, in practice these acts will rarely, if ever, constitute even a single chargeable offense, let alone more than one. Rather, as we stated above, they will be aspects of “how th[e] crime was committed,” on which the jury need not agree. (Russo, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 1132.) 3 While a few other cases have discussed unanimity in the context of enhancement allegations, they have all found no requirement to instruct. (See People v. Ortiz (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 1354, 1376–1377; People v. Bragg (2008) 161 Cal.App.4th 1385, 1402; People v. Ortega (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 1344, 1357.)

2. On page 10, delete footnote 4.

There is no change in the judgment.

Defendant’s petition for rehearing is denied.

Dated:

________________________________ Margulies, Acting P.J.

2 Filed 9/11/13 (unmodified version) 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.

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A134564 v. OTIS MIGUEL CRAWFORD, (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. 165116) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant was convicted of second degree robbery after he shot an ice cream vendor. The victim testified a man identified by others as defendant pointed a revolver at him, threatened him, and pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. When the victim then struggled with defendant over control of the gun, defendant fired two shots, the second of which struck the victim. Defendant contends the trial court erred in not giving a unanimity instruction with respect to the personal discharge of a firearm enhancement, failed to respond to a jury note, and improperly refused to appoint substitute counsel. He also contends his admission of his prior convictions was invalid. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND Defendant was charged in an information, filed December 16, 2010, with attempted second degree robbery (Pen. Code,1 § 211) and possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 12021, subd. (a)(1)). As to the attempted robbery charge, it was alleged defendant personally discharged a firearm, causing great bodily injury (§§ 12022.5,

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code. subd. (a), 12022.7, subd. (a), 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (d), (g)), personally inflicted great bodily injury (§§ 1192.7, subd. (c)(8), 12022.7, subd. (a)), and committed the offense while on parole (§ 1203.085, subd. (b)). Defendant was also alleged to have a prior strike and serious felony conviction (§§ 667, subds. (a)(1), (e)(1), 1170.12, subd. (c)(1)) and four other felony convictions for which he served prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The victim testified he was selling ice cream from a pushcart around noon on the day of the attempted robbery. Three people, one later identified by other witnesses as defendant, walked up to the cart. Defendant said he wanted to buy ice cream. The two others moved to surround the victim. After the victim gave defendant ice cream, defendant took a revolver from his pocket, pointed it at the victim’s face, and said, “You know what? I’m going to kill you.” When the victim asked why, defendant pulled the trigger of the revolver, but the weapon did not fire. The victim then grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the gun. As the pair struggled, the gun fired, this time sending a bullet through the brim of the victim’s cap. Defendant pushed the victim against the cart, causing him to fall to the ground. As the victim tried to pull himself up, defendant moved behind him and shot him in the shoulder. When the victim slumped to the ground, defendant pushed him over and searched his pockets before walking off. The victim’s statement to the police, dictated during his stay in the hospital after the shooting, differed somewhat from his testimony at trial. The statement made no reference to an initial trigger pull that did not result in the gun firing. Instead, the victim said he “grabbed the gun and struggled with the male suspect. All of sudden [sic] I heard two shots, and then a sharp pain near my neck. I then fell to the ground knowing I was shot.” Although the victim was unable to identify the shooter, a pair of witnesses saw the shooting from a distance, identified defendant as the shooter, and followed him and the two others as they went into a nearby park restroom. When the three emerged, defendant began playing basketball on a nearby court. He was arrested there. Police found a

2 revolver in a trash can near the restroom. The cylinder of the revolver contained one empty chamber, two expended bullet cartridges, and two live cartridges. The jury convicted defendant on both counts and found the allegations to be true. The trial court imposed a sentence of 34 years to life in prison. II.

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People v. Crawford CA1/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-crawford-ca11-calctapp-2013.