People v. Dominguez

38 Cal. App. 4th 410, 45 Cal. Rptr. 2d 153, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7416, 95 Daily Journal DAR 12649, 1995 Cal. App. LEXIS 910
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 20, 1995
DocketB086576
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 38 Cal. App. 4th 410 (People v. Dominguez) 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. Dominguez, 38 Cal. App. 4th 410, 45 Cal. Rptr. 2d 153, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7416, 95 Daily Journal DAR 12649, 1995 Cal. App. LEXIS 910 (Cal. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

Opinion

WOODS (Fred), J.

Florentino Frank Dominguez was convicted by jury of second degree robbery and carjacking, both with the use of a firearm (Pen. Code, §§211, 215, 12022.5), and the court found true allegations of a prior serious felony conviction (Pen. Code, § 667, subd. (a)(1)), and of three prior convictions for which he had served a separate prison term (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)) and that appellant’s conviction was a “second strike” pursuant to Penal Code section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i), since he had the prior serious felony conviction. He contends he was improperly convicted of both carjacking and robbery and the evidence is insufficient to support the firearm use enhancement.

This court asked for additional briefing regarding which terms are doubled upon conviction for a “second strike” and whether the new “Three Strikes” law permitted the trial court to strike the Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a), prior serious felony conviction enhancement.

The judgment will be modified and affirmed.

Factual Background

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206 [26 Cal.Rptr.2d 23, 864 P.2d 103]), about 1:30 a.m. on March 20, 1994, Jose Carvallo left his mother’s residence and drove his van to the El Atacor restaurant to get something to eat. He parked in a lot several doors away from the restaurant as there was little parking nearby. Suddenly, a man entered his van through the side sliding door. The man put a cold and metallic object against his neck which felt “[l]ike a weapon, like a gun.” The man grabbed him and said, “ ‘Give me everything you have. If you turn around, I’ll kill you.’ ” It took Carvallo about five minutes to remove two rings. At one point, Carvallo turned and *415 saw appellant, a man Carvallo previously had seen in that neighborhood. 1 Carvallo was afraid appellant would kill him. As soon as he handed over the rings and a chain, he ran. He telephoned the police from the restaurant.

Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Mark Lucio responded to the call. Carvallo was nervous and frightened. Carvallo told Lucio, “ T thought [the robber] was going to kill me. I ran.’ ” Lucio also recalled Carvallo telling him appellant put a gun to his head and told him to get out of the van. 2 Carvallo explained to Lucio he got out of the car and never looked back. For that reason, Lucio had another deputy determine if the van was still in the lot. The van was missing. Soon thereafter, the van was recovered at a location less than a mile away.

In defense, appellant claimed he was acquainted with the victim and denied robbery, carjacking and possessing a firearm. He claimed he took the car without permission from the lot after the victim picked him up on the street and gave him a ride there. The victim was emotional and inebriated and appellant thought he might be gay. They talked in the van for 20 minutes. The victim asked appellant to do a “hit.” The victim got out of the van to get burritos, but left his keys in the ignition. Appellant drove off in the van for “fun” and because the victim asked him to do the “hit.” Appellant abandoned the van nearby and left the keys. Appellant claimed he hoped the victim would recover his van. The People impeached appellant with his prior convictions for attempted robbery and burglary.

During deliberations, the jury asked the court if the “victim need[s] to see a weapon” in order to make a finding of personal use of a firearm. The court replied in writing: “If you find that the defendant personally used a firearm as defined in [CALJIC No.] 17.19, the law does not further require that the victim actually see the firearm.” The jury also inquired, “What does the word [‘]display[’] mean in relation to [CALJIC No.] 17.19?” In writing, the judge replied, “The law does not further define ‘display.’ Use the everyday, commonly understood definition.”

For carjacking, the court imposed an aggregate term in state prison of twenty-six years, consisting of the high term of nine years, doubled, as the conviction was a “second strike” (making the base term eighteen years), enhanced by a high term of five years for the firearm use and by three consecutively imposed one-year terms for the three prior separate prison *416 term enhancements. The court stated that it would “strike” the prior conviction allegation for the serious felony under Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a)(1), and would not use that prior conviction to both “trigger” the Three Strikes provisions, as well as impose the five-year enhancement. 3

For robbery, the court imposed a concurrent term of eight years consisting of the middle term of four years, doubled as it was a “second strike” (making the total term eight years). The court stayed the firearm use enhancement for the robbery.

With regard to the ban on multiple punishment as it applied to the imposition of a term for the robbery, the court said; “. . . I think that possibly in this situation count 1, the robbery, could be in fact a separate crime punishable as such. But out of an abundance of caution in the matter I am going to find that pursuant to section 654 that might in fact be a dual use so I will not impose that consecutively]. However, the jury did find [appellant] guilty of that crime, so what I’ll do is I’ll go ahead and run that [term] concurrent.” 4

Discussion

1. The only error the court made was in imposing a concurrent term for the robbery after determining the term for robbery was subject to the ban on the multiple punishment in Penal Code section 654.

The contention appellant can be convicted of, and punished for, either carjacking or robbery, but not of both offenses, and the conviction for one of these offenses must be reversed, lacks merit.

Appellant argues the new statute defining an offense of “carjacking,” Penal Code section 215, and robbery in violation of Penal Code section 211, constitute different versions of robbery and, thus, multiple convictions of these offenses are improper since the carjacking and robbery constituted “one continuous event” during which the victim was robbed of a variety of different items. Appellant also claims the ban on multiple punishment in *417 Penal Code section 654 requires appellant be punished for only one of the offenses.

Respondent urges subdivision (c) of the new carjacking statute, Penal Code section 215, expressly authorizes conviction for both offenses and additionally alters the usual rules for the application of the ban on multiple punishment in Penal Code section 654.

Penal Code section 215 in its entirety provides:

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38 Cal. App. 4th 410, 45 Cal. Rptr. 2d 153, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7416, 95 Daily Journal DAR 12649, 1995 Cal. App. LEXIS 910, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dominguez-calctapp-1995.