People v. Dubrawski CA1/5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 23, 2016
DocketA143359
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Dubrawski CA1/5 (People v. Dubrawski CA1/5) 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. Dubrawski CA1/5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 3/23/16 P. v. Dubrawski CA1/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A143359 v. ROBERT CHARLES DUBRAWSKI, JR., (Lake County Super. Ct. No. CR934847) Defendant and Appellant.

Robert Charles Dubrawski, Jr., offered to sell marijuana to a police officer posing as an acquaintance. Dubrawski claimed at trial that he had grown the marijuana for a collective of medical marijuana patients and was attempting to sell the excess from his crop to another collective. The jury rejected the defense. Dubrawski seeks reversal based on inadequate jury instructions. We conclude that any instructional error was nonprejudicial and affirm. Dubrawski also challenges three conditions of his probation. Challenges to two of the conditions are forfeited due to Dubrawski’s failure to object below, but the third condition must be modified to cure constitutional vagueness. I. BACKGROUND Dubrawski was charged by felony information with transportation or sale of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11360, subd. (a))1 and possession of marijuana (§ 11359). The case was tried to a jury.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Health and Safety Code.

1 A. Trial Evidence Dennis Keithly, a narcotics detective for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, was involved in the February 19, 2014 arrest of Chris Vasquez, who was found with methamphetamine, about $16,000 in cash, and a cell phone. Keithly discovered text messages on the cell phone that Keithly believed were arrangements for a meeting to purchase marijuana. He called the number associated with the texts, pretending to be Vasquez, and recorded his phone conversation with “Bob.” In the recording, which was played for the jury, Keithly told Bob he was running late and said, “I scraped together a few more thousand. [¶] . . . [¶] . . . [W]hat do you think we can do?” Bob answered, “[C]om[e] on we need communication man . . . ‘cause . . . you told me you wanted a ten pack. I went and I got ‘em. You were suppose to . . . like a third person or some, you had some guy you know was suppose to come up.” Keithly said he had $3,000 and Bob said the price was “1.2 so, you know like twelve hundred a pop,” which Keithly testified meant $1,200 per pound. Keithly offered the $3,000 for three pounds, but Bob insisted on receiving $1,200 per pound. Keithly said he would try to come up with another $600 and come by. Keithly went to Dubrawski’s home with a search warrant. When confronted, Dubrawski admitted he had the phone conversation with Keithly and cooperated with Keithly’s investigation. Dubrawski directed Keithly to 10-pounds of marijuana in a box located in a shed attached to the residence—the “ten pack” he had intended to sell to Vasquez. Inside the house, Keithly found items he considered indicia of marijuana sales. In a room containing an expired identification card for Dubrawski and pictures of Dubrawski, Keithly also found a United States mail or United Parcel Service packing list and receipt, another 1.1 pounds of marijuana, and a scale. In another room, Keithly found processing materials: several pairs of scissors, rubber gloves, and bottles of alcohol in a tub located near a pool table that had marijuana trimmings on it. He also found “expired medical marijuana recommendations” for Dubrawski in the housebut no money or pay/owe sheets.

2 Keithly read Dubrawski his Miranda2 rights and recorded a conversation with him, which was also played for the jury. Dubrawski said he and his roommate used marijuana for medical reasons. Dubrawski grew 36 plants of marijuana “for mostly my housemate and myself” and reaped less than three pounds of marijuana per plant. He personally consumed a lot of marijuana because he ate or used it in a tincture rather than smoking it. He denied that he stored additional marijuana elsewhere, and explained that he falsely told Keithly on the phone that he got the ten pack from some other location because he feared being robbed if people thought he stored marijuana at his home. He was particularly suspicious of Vasquez because “this is my first time dealing with him” and “I think he’s on the shit,” meaning methamphetamine. Dubrawski claimed he did not know it was illegal to sell the marijuana. He was selling it because he needed money, apparently for a new car. He did not have a job other than caring for the property where he lived, for which his rent was waived, and he was on food stamps. When Keithly asked, “Is twelve hundred the usual price you get for it?” Dubrawski responded, “Whatever you get.” Keithly testified that $1,200 per pound was the normal street price for marijuana and the wholesale price would be $800 to $600 less per pound. However, all prices depended on the time of year, supply and demand, and the particular strain of marijuana. At trial, Dubrawski testified that the ten pack came from 36 plants that he cultivated for a group of six persons (including himself, but not Vasquez) with medical marijuana recommendations, two of whom lived with Dubrawski. Dubrawski’s own medical marijuana recommendations had lapsed at the time of his arrest, but his symptoms (anxiety, insomnia and arthritis) continued, and he renewed the recommendation before trial. Dubrawski considered the group of six a collective, but it was not registered as such and the group members had no written agreement among themselves and did not pay Dubrawski for their share of the marijuana. Dubrawski did

2 Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436.

3 most of the work cultivating the marijuana, and in the most recent growing season he had harvested about 36 pounds, which he processed at home. Dubrawski intended to sell the 10 pounds of marijuana in order to “pay for soil and nutrients and for next season.” He claimed the group broke even on the marijuana parcel, but he could not estimate his total costs for the last season and had not retained his receipts. He purchased plants for about $10 to $15 each, grew them under artificial lights for about 15 hours, and planted them in dirt supplemented with purchased soil (costing about $120 to $150) and hundreds of dollars worth of nutrients. Other costs included supporting himself during the four-month growing season: he worked at least 40 hours a week on his caretaking activities, spending about a third of his time on the marijuana crop. As evidence that he was not making a profit on the marijuana cultivation, he cited the poor condition of his vehicle and only $300 in his bank account at the time of his arrest. Dubrawski testified that he planned to sell Vasquez the ten pack for $1,200 a pound on the understanding that Vasquez was going to “broker it to a club,” a dispensary, collective or organization of medical marijuana patients. He knew Vasquez through Vasquez’s mother and had met him twice socially. When asked on cross-examination what collective he believed Vasquez belong to, Dubrawski said, “I don’t know and I don’t want to know.” Dubrawski denied that he ever sent marijuana through the United States mail. The mailing receipt found in his house was from a package he mailed to his 12-year-old daughter and the mailing label was for a friend to whom he owed a debt (jam and sourdough bread) for losing a football bet. When asked the purpose of the triple beam scale found in his home, Dubrawski said, “I really don’t recall. That thing is so old and . . . usually it’s used for baking . . .

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Dubrawski CA1/5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-dubrawski-ca15-calctapp-2016.