People v. Daniels CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 5, 2024
DocketE082771
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Daniels CA4/2 (People v. Daniels CA4/2) 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. Daniels CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 12/5/24 P. v. Daniels CA4/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, E082771

v. (Super.Ct.No. RIF2301077)

DEBRAH MARIELEAH DANIELS, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Timothy F. Freer, Judge.

Affirmed.

Sally Patrone, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina and

Genevieve Herbert, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 A jury acquitted defendant and appellant Debrah Marieleah Daniels of attempted

murder but found her guilty on two counts of assault with a firearm and one count of

discharging a firearm with gross negligence. All these charges arise from a single

incident, when Daniels intervened in a fight involving her adult granddaughter. The trial

court sentenced Daniels to 10 years.

Daniels argues the prosecution failed to prove she was not acting in lawful self-

defense and defense of her granddaughter. She also argues the trial court abused its

discretion by imposing the middle term for her sentence instead of the low term, because

it failed to give adequate weight to mitigating factors and improperly considered certain

facts as aggravating. We affirm, as substantial evidence supports the jury’s decision

Daniels was not acting in lawful self-defense or defense of another, and there was no

prejudicial sentencing error.

FACTS

In March 2023, Daniels’ granddaughter Shamya Daniels (S.D.) was 20 years old.

S.D. worked for a security company. Two of the people S.D. had supervised as a shift

lead were 18-year-old Tyjaih Powers and 20-year-old Tianna Ferguson. Powers and S.D.

did not get along. In February or early March 2023, after seven or eight months of

working together, Powers and S.D. had a verbal argument that culminated in an exchange

of “fighting words.” Powers was first suspended, and then fired from the security

company. S.D., too, was fired from the security company.

2 Powers and S.D. continued to communicate, exchanging text messages and phone

calls that escalated again to mutual invitations to fight. The renewed fighting words did

not include threats expressly involving weapons. Powers, for example, threatened to

“beat [S.D.’s] ass” and said she did not care if she went to jail for doing so.

On March 19, 2023, Powers and Ferguson, who were friends, went to the

shopping center in Moreno Valley where S.D. was working security for a new employer.

Ferguson had a small pocketknife on her keychain. Powers had no weapons. At trial,

Powers denied she went to the shopping center to fight S.D. Ferguson, however, testified

that she anticipated there would be a fight between Powers and S.D., and intended to

“record the fight if it happened” using her phone.

When Ferguson and Powers arrived at the shopping center, they saw S.D. driving

in the parking lot in a security truck. Powers and S.D. began “yelling” at one another, at

first from the open windows of their vehicles. Powers exited Ferguson’s car, and the

argument continued—Powers estimated for about 20 minutes—and escalated. S.D. and

Powers agreed to fight once S.D. got off work, in about 30 minutes, and S.D. drove away.

While Powers was waiting for S.D., she went to S.D.’s personal car, which was

parked in the shopping center parking lot, and stood on its hood briefly before getting

back into Ferguson’s car. Meanwhile, S.D. called several people for help, including her

boyfriend and her grandmother, Daniels.

Soon, Daniels arrived and parked near Ferguson’s car. Another car, driven by

S.D.’s boyfriend and with S.D. as a passenger, also stopped nearby without pulling into a

3 parking space. Daniels got out of her car and walked quickly toward Powers and

Ferguson, who got out of their vehicle as Daniels approached. Daniels told Powers that if

she “touch[ed]” her granddaughter, she was “going to die.”

As Daniels and Powers exchanged words, Ferguson approached S.D.’s boyfriend,

who was standing outside the passenger side of his car, where S.D. was still sitting.

Ferguson started talking “trash” to S.D., trying to “get her attention.” Soon, all four—

Daniels, Powers, Ferguson, and S.D.’s boyfriend—came together in a heated

conversation, then pushing and shoving. Ferguson struck Daniels with either a slap or a

punch, though S.D. believed Powers had struck Daniels. S.D. then got out of the car and

started punching Powers, who punched back.

Moments after S.D. and Powers began fighting one another, Daniels pulled out a

semiautomatic handgun and fired a shot into the air. Powers and Ferguson turned and

started to run away. Daniels and S.D. pursued them, with Daniels pointing the gun at

them.

Daniels caught up to Ferguson near the store’s garden center and struck her with

the gun, causing a cut on her neck. Daniels then followed Powers back out to the parking

lot. While running away, Powers tripped and fell. S.D. and Daniels approached Powers

and stood over her. Daniels struck Powers in the face with the gun twice, told her she

“wasn’t playing,” and fired a shot into the ground nearby.

4 The operative second amended information (information) charged Daniels with 1 one count of attempted murder (Pen. Code , §§ 664, 187, subd. (a), count 1), three counts

of assault with a semiautomatic firearm (§ 245, subd. (b), counts 2, 3, and 5), and one

count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence (§ 246.3, subd. (a), count 4). The

People alleged as to count 1 that Daniels personally and intentionally discharged a

firearm (§ 12022.53, subd. (c)) and personally used a firearm in committing counts 2, 3,

and 5 (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). The People also alleged several aggravating factors,

specifically, that Daniels’ prior offenses were “numerous or increasing in seriousness” 2 (Cal. Rules of Court , rule 4.421(b)(2)), that she engaged in conduct showing “a serious

danger to society” (rule 4.421(b)(1)), and that she “was armed with or used a weapon”

during the offenses (rule 4.421(a)(2)).

The People dismissed count 3 during trial. The jury acquitted Daniels of

attempted murder (count 1) but convicted her on the remaining counts (counts 2, 4, and

5) and found true the enhancements alleged as to counts 2 and 5. Daniels waived a jury

trial on aggravating factors, and the court found the three alleged aggravating factors true.

The court also found two additional aggravating factors applied, namely, that the crime

involved “great violence” or “threat of great bodily harm” under rule 4.421(a)(1) and that

Daniels had served a prior term in prison or county jail under rule 4.421(b)(3). The court

found five mitigating factors applied, namely, the crime “was committed because of an

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 Undesignated rules references are to the California Rules of Court.

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People v. Daniels CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-daniels-ca42-calctapp-2024.