People v. Fields CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 2, 2014
DocketF066617
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Fields CA5 (People v. Fields CA5) 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. Fields CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 10/2/14 P. v. Fields CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, F066617

v. (Super. Ct. Nos. F11903982 & F09905868) CARLTON DWAYNE FIELDS, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno County. Arlan L. Harrell, Judge. Emry J. Allen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Ward A. Campbell and Sean M. McCoy, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo-

 Before Kane, Acting P.J., Detjen, J., and Franson, J. In case No. F09905868, appellant, Carlton Dwayne Fields, pled no contest to possession of cocaine base (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a)) and admitted a prior prison term enhancement (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b))1 and allegations that he had a prior conviction within the meaning of the three strikes law (§ 667, subd. (b)-(i)). In case No. F11903982, Fields pled no contest to several criminal charges and admitted a great bodily injury enhancement (§ 12022.7) in one count, a serious felony enhancement (§ 667, subd. (a)), a prior prison term enhancement, and allegations that he had a prior conviction within the meaning of the three strikes law. On appeal, Fields contends the court abused its discretion when it: 1) denied his request for a grant of probation in both cases; denied his motion to strike his strike conviction; and 3) failed to reinstate his probation in case No. F09905868. Alternatively, Fields contends defense counsel provided ineffective representation by his failure to develop the evidence in the record of drug psychosis syndrome for purposes of mitigating his sentence. Respondent contends the court’s oral pronouncement of judgment differs from the minute orders of Fields’s sentencing hearing, the abstract of judgment does not accurately reflect the judgment, and that the court erred by its failure to impose sentence on Fields’s vandalism conviction. We will find merit to Respondent’s contentions. Additionally, our review of the record disclosed that the court committed various sentencing errors and we will remand the matter for further proceedings.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted.

2 FACTS Case No. No. F09905868 On October 12, 2009, Fresno police officers observed Fields and another man as they appeared to be handing something back and forth to each other. The officers contacted Fields and found .08 grams of cocaine base on him. On October 14, 2009, the district attorney filed a complaint charging Fields with possession of cocaine base (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a)), a prior prison term enhancement (§ 667.5, subd. (b)), and having a prior conviction within the meaning of the three strikes law (§ 667, subds. (b)-(e)). On November 16, 2009, Fields pled guilty to possession of cocaine base and admitted the enhancement and prior conviction allegations. On December 21, 2009, the court struck Fields’s prior strike conviction and sentenced him to an aggregate four-year term, the upper term of three years on Field’s possession conviction and a one-year prior prison term enhancement. The court then suspended execution of sentence and placed Fields on probation for three years. Case No. No. F11903982 In May through July 2011, Jane Doe lived on and off with Fields in an apartment in Fresno. On the evening of July 2, 2012, she and Fields argued because Fields believed she had been unfaithful to him. During the argument, Fields repeatedly threatened to kill her as he paced back and forth from the living room to the kitchen holding a cake knife. At one point, Fields touched Doe on the stomach with the knife. Eventually, Doe left the apartment and Fields followed her outside where they continued arguing. Fields then lifted Doe off the ground and slammed her on the ground. Afterwards, Doe walked back to the apartment to get her belongings to leave but wound up staying there. The following morning Fields and Doe continued arguing and Fields punched Doe in her right eye, which caused her eye to go blind. Fields also grabbed Doe by the neck and slapped

3 her on the face. Prior to these incidents, Fields had assaulted Doe on four or five other separate occasions. On July 3, 2011, Fresno Police Officer Leonard Turk arrested Fields and transported him to the Fresno County Jail. While Turk used a computer in the patrol car to type out an arrest report, Fields kept asking for water. Turk told Fields to calm down and he would get Fields some water as soon as they entered the jail. Fields told the officer that if he did not get him some water, he was going to kick the patrol car’s window out. He then began kicking a rear window on the patrol car, damaging it. The Psychological Evaluations On August 17, 2011, after an issue arose regarding Fields’s mental competence, the court suspended criminal proceedings and appointed Drs. Howard Terrell and Paula Willis to evaluate Fields. Dr. Terrell examined Fields on August 22, 2011. In his written evaluation, Dr. Terrell described Fields as appearing to be “floridly psychotic.” Fields told Dr. Terrell that he experienced hallucinations every day. According to Dr. Terrell, Fields showed evidence of intermittent thought blocking and frequent loose associations and he appeared to be responding to internal stimuli throughout the interview. Dr. Terrell diagnosed Fields with nonspecific psychosis and cocaine abuse that was in institutional remission. He recommended the court find Fields mentally incompetent. On August 25, 2011, Dr. Paula Willis evaluated Fields. Fields did not indicate to Dr. Willis that he had a history of mental disorders. Dr. Willis noted that although Fields claimed he heard voices, he did not exhibit any outward signs of psychosis, his jail records did not indicate he ever exhibited psychotic symptoms, and Fields’s thought processes appeared clear, well organized and without delusional content. Dr. Willis administered the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST) to Fields, which is used as a screening tool for malingering symptoms of mental illness. Dr. Willis

4 found that some of the symptoms Fields claimed he was experiencing indicated he was feigning mental illness and most of his responses were inconsistent with a true clinical disorder. She concluded that Fields was suffering from substance abuse, that if he suffered any psychotic episodes they may have been induced by illicit drug use, and that there was no evidence that he suffered from a thought disorder while not under the influence of drugs. Fields also refused to answer most of the questions on the “Revised- CA1” and mental status examination, which is common for someone who attempts to manipulate the examiner to avoid the detection of malingering. Dr. Willis concluded that Fields did not exhibit any symptoms of a thought disorder that would render him incompetent. On September 21, 2011, the court appointed Dr. Stephen Pointkowski to examine Fields. During his subsequent examination of Fields, Dr. Pointkowski noted that “[j]ail psychiatric records reflected no credible psychotic symptoms and a pattern of manipulation.” Although Fields initially stated that he continuously experienced auditory hallucinations, he later described them as intermittent.

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People v. Fields CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fields-ca5-calctapp-2014.