People v. Downey CA2/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 2, 2020
DocketB291436
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Downey CA2/2 (People v. Downey CA2/2) 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. Downey CA2/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 10/2/20 P. v. Downey CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

THE PEOPLE, B291436

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. PA089166) v.

JAMES J. DOWNEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Hayden A. Zacky, Judge. Affirmed. Sylvia Eva Ronnau and Eric E. Reynolds, under appointments by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews and Gary A. Lieberman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. James J. Downey appeals the judgment entered following a jury trial in which he was convicted of possession of an assault weapon in violation of Penal Code1 section 30605, subdivision (a). The trial court suspended execution of a three-year prison sentence and placed appellant on formal probation for three years with conditions that he serve 365 days in county jail, pay various fines and fees, and submit to searches of his electronic information. Appellant contends: (1) California’s complete ban on semiautomatic rifles with no exception for in-home self-defense violates the Second Amendment, rendering appellant’s conviction unconstitutional; (2) the electronics search probation condition imposed by the trial court is unreasonable, and trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to it; and (3) the court’s imposition of a restitution fine and court facilities and government operations fees without a determination of appellant’s ability to pay violates appellant’s constitutional rights under People v. Dueñas (2019) 30 Cal.App.5th 1157. We disagree and affirm the judgment of conviction. Appellant also requests that this court review the sealed portion of the search warrant affidavit to determine whether the trial court properly denied appellant’s motion to quash and traverse the search warrant. However, appellant’s failure to present an adequate record forecloses review of the trial court’s denial of the motion on appeal. FACTUAL BACKGROUND On June 20, 2017, around 4:40 a.m., Los Angeles Police Officer Jose Lopez along with several other officers executed a search warrant at appellant’s residence. The officers were

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 looking for illegal assault weapons, such as AR-15’s and AK-47’s, as well as narcotics. Inside the home, officers found nine firearms, including a Norinco 56S semiautomatic assault rifle. The Norinco 56S is a Chinese “knock-off” of the AK-47. The Norinco was not loaded, but officers found 337 rounds of ammunition for it, as well as directions for converting it into a fully automatic rifle.2 During an interview with police, appellant stated he had inherited the assault rifle from his grandfather, he had never taken it outside the house, and he had never fired the weapon. DISCUSSION I. Appellant’s Second Amendment Challenge to His Conviction Has Been Forfeited and Lacks Merit Appellant was convicted under section 30605, subdivision (a), which prohibits possession of any assault weapon in the State of California. The Norinco 56S model of firearm found in appellant’s possession is statutorily enumerated as a prohibited assault weapon. (§ 30510, subd. (a)(1)(B).) Appellant contends that California’s ban on semiautomatic rifles such as the Norinco 56S without an exception for in-home self-defense violates the Second Amendment. Appellant’s failure to raise the claim below forfeits his challenge on appeal. In any event, the argument lacks merit.

2 Officers also found a glass pipe containing a substance resembling crystal methamphetamine, but appellant was charged only with the firearm offense.

3 A. The claim is forfeited “As a general rule, only ‘claims properly raised and preserved by the parties are reviewable on appeal.’ ” (People v. Smith (2001) 24 Cal.4th 849, 852.) “ ‘Ordinarily, a criminal defendant who does not challenge an assertedly erroneous ruling of the trial court in that court has forfeited his or her right to raise the claim on appeal.’ ” (People v. McCullough (2013) 56 Cal.4th 589, 593, quoting In re Sheena K. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 875, 880.) This rule of forfeiture applies to any sort of right, including a constitutional right. (In re Sheena K., at pp. 880–881, quoting United States v. Olano (1993) 507 U.S. 725, 731 [“ ‘ “a constitutional right,” or a right of any other sort, “may be forfeited in criminal as well as civil cases by the failure to make timely assertion of the right before a tribunal having jurisdiction to determine it” ’ ”].) Appellant did not raise his Second Amendment challenge in the trial court. He neither asserted nor presented any evidence to support the claim he makes on appeal that he possessed the assault rifle for in-home self-defense. He also failed to argue and presented no evidence to support the assertion that such weapons are not dangerous or unusual because “[m]illions of Americans keep semi-automatic rifles” for lawful purposes. Appellant has forfeited the issue. B. Appellant’s Second Amendment challenge fails In any event, we reject appellant’s challenge on its merits. (See People v. Frederickson (2020) 8 Cal.5th 963, 1031 (conc. opn. of Liu, J.) [courts “regularly excuse forfeiture where the defendant has asserted the deprivation of a fundamental constitutional right”].)

4 The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (See District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) 554 U.S. 570, 576 (Heller).) In Heller, the Supreme Court held that although “the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms,” that right was not unlimited. (Id. at p. 595.) Indeed, “[f]rom Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained” that the Second Amendment right is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” (Id. at p. 626; People v. Zondorak (2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 829, 832 (Zondorak) [Second Amendment’s protections are not unlimited and “do not extend to any type of weapon”]; People v. James (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 662, 674 (James) [same].) Heller concerned the District of Columbia’s total ban on handgun possession in the home and a prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. The Supreme Court held both restrictions violated the Second Amendment.3 (Heller, supra, 554 U.S. at p. 635.) However, the court concluded that “those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, such as short-barreled shotguns” are excluded from Second Amendment protection. (Id. at p. 625.) And recognizing

3 While the Supreme Court held in McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) 561 U.S. 742, 791 (McDonald), that “the Second Amendment right recognized in Heller” also applies to the States, the Court did not otherwise expand or contract the substantive scope of the Second Amendment right acknowledged in Heller.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Downey CA2/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-downey-ca22-calctapp-2020.