People v. Flores

176 Cal. App. 4th 633
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 11, 2009
DocketF055859
StatusPublished

This text of 176 Cal. App. 4th 633 (People v. Flores) 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. Flores, 176 Cal. App. 4th 633 (Cal. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

176 Cal.App.4th 633 (2009)

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
JOSE ANGEL FLORES, Defendant and Appellant.[*]

No. F055859.

Court of Appeals of California, Fifth District.

August 11, 2009.
CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION[†]

*636 Gretchen Franklin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, R. Todd Marshall and Raymond L. Brosterhous II, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

CORNELL, J.—

A jury convicted Jose Angel Flores of violating Penal Code sections 4501.1 (battery by gassing),[1] 4501.5 (battery by a prisoner on a nonprisoner), and 69 (interfering with a peace officer in the performance of his duties). Flores argues reversal is required because the trial occurred before his Pitchess[2] motion was heard. We conclude that Flores waived the right to a hearing on the motion by refusing to continue the trial date.

In the published portion of the opinion, we conclude that battery by gassing is a necessarily included offense of battery by a prisoner on a nonprisoner. Accordingly, Flores should not have been convicted of violating section 4501.1 once the jury found him guilty of violating section 4501.5. We therefore will vacate the section 4501.1 conviction and remand the matter to the trial court for resentencing.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY

Flores was imprisoned at Wasco State Prison. On November 15, 2007, he was being transported between cells by Correctional Officer Jerry Brazeal. Brazeal testified that after Flores arrived in his new holding cell, Brazeal *637 instructed Flores to stand facing the back wall so Brazeal could exit the cell. As Brazeal left the cell, he heard Flores spit, and felt spit hit the back of his uniform. Brazeal turned around and Flores made a derogatory comment and lunged towards Brazeal. Brazeal pushed Flores against the back wall. Flores then spit in Brazeal's face. Flores was subdued without further incident.

Flores was charged with aggravated battery by gassing (§ 4501.1), battery by a prisoner on a nonprisoner (§ 4501.5), and interfering with an officer in the performance of his duties (§ 69). Each count also alleged that Flores had suffered a prior conviction within the meaning of section 667.5, subdivision (b). The jury convicted Flores of each count, and found the enhancement on each count to be true. The trial court sentenced Flores to the midterm of three years on count 1, one year consecutive on count 2, and one year for the section 667.5 enhancement, for a total term of five years.

DISCUSSION

I. Failure to Hear Pitchess Motion before Trial[*]

II. The Sections 4501.1 and 4501.5 Convictions

(1) Flores was convicted of violating sections 4501.1 and 4501.5. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences on these counts. Flores argues, and the People concede, that a violation of section 4501.5 is a necessarily included offense of a violation of section 4501.1. We agree there is a lesser included offense, but the parties have the sections reversed: A violation of section 4501.1 is a necessarily included offense of a violation of section 4501.5.

(2) The issue of lesser included offenses arises because of the tension between sections 954 and 654. Section 954 provides that an accusatory pleading may charge different statements of the same offense, and that the defendant may be convicted of "any number of the offenses charged." (Ibid.) Section 654 provides that while a defendant may be convicted of any number of offenses charged, he or she may be sentenced only once for each criminal act. (Id., subd. (a).)

"In People v. Pearson (1986) 42 Cal.3d 351, 359 [228 Cal.Rptr. 509, 721 P.2d 595], we recognized the tension between these statutes, observing: `This court has long struggled with the problem of permitting multiple *638 convictions while protecting the defendant from multiple punishment.' The solution we have adopted is, in general, to permit multiple convictions on counts that arise from a single act or course of conduct—but to avoid multiple punishment, by staying execution of sentence on all but one of those convictions. [Citation.] "But despite the seemingly absolute language of section 954 (`the defendant may be convicted of any number of the offenses charged'), there is an exception to the general rule permitting multiple convictions. `Although the reason for the rule is unclear, this court has long held that multiple convictions may not be based on necessarily included offenses. [Citations.]' [Citation.] `"The test in this state of a necessarily included offense is simply that where an offense cannot be committed without necessarily committing another offense, the latter is a necessarily included offense." [Citations.]' [Citation.]" (People v. Ortega (1998) 19 Cal.4th 686, 692 [80 Cal.Rptr.2d 489, 968 P.2d 48], overruled on other grounds in People v. Reed (2006) 38 Cal.4th 1224, 1229 [45 Cal.Rptr.3d 353, 137 P.3d 184].)

(3) The test in Ortega is commonly referred to as the elements test. "The elements test is satisfied when `"all the legal ingredients of the corpus delicti of the lesser offense [are] included in the elements of the greater offense." [Citation.]' [Citations.] Stated differently, if a crime cannot be committed without also necessarily committing a lesser offense, the latter is a lesser included offense within the former. [Citations.]" (People v. Lopez (1998) 19 Cal.4th 282, 288 [79 Cal.Rptr.2d 195, 965 P.2d 713] (Lopez).)

There is, however, a second test for determining whether one offense is necessarily included in another offense, commonly referred to as the accusatory pleading test. Under the accusatory pleading test, "a lesser offense is included within the greater charged offense `"if the charging allegations of the accusatory pleading include language describing the offense in such a way that if committed as specified the lesser offense is necessarily committed." [Citation.]' [Citations.]" (Lopez, supra, 19 Cal.4th at pp. 288-289.)

(4) In this case we must use the elements test because, as explained by the Supreme Court, a defendant cannot be convicted of a necessarily included offense unless it meets the elements test. (People v. Ramirez (2009) 45 Cal.4th 980, 985 [89 Cal.Rptr.3d 586, 201 P.3d 466].) "`Courts should consider [both] the statutory elements and accusatory pleading in deciding whether a defendant received notice, and therefore may be convicted, of an uncharged crime, but only the statutory elements in deciding whether a defendant may be convicted of multiple charged crimes.' [Citation.]" (Ibid.) "Under the `elements' test, we look strictly to the statutory elements, not to the specific facts of a given case. [Citation.] We inquire whether all the statutory elements of the lesser offense are included within those of the greater offense." (Ibid.)

*639 (5) Section 4501.1[3] criminalizes the conduct commonly known as battery by gassing.

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Related

People v. Lopez
965 P.2d 713 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Pearson
721 P.2d 595 (California Supreme Court, 1986)
Pitchess v. Superior Court
522 P.2d 305 (California Supreme Court, 1974)
People v. Ortega
968 P.2d 48 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Myers
61 Cal. App. 4th 328 (California Court of Appeal, 1998)
People v. Wright
52 Cal. App. 4th 203 (California Court of Appeal, 1996)
People v. Ramirez
201 P.3d 466 (California Supreme Court, 2009)
People v. Reed
137 P.3d 184 (California Supreme Court, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
176 Cal. App. 4th 633, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-flores-calctapp-2009.