People v. Gallardo CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 7, 2014
DocketD064486
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Gallardo CA4/1 (People v. Gallardo CA4/1) 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. Gallardo CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 11/7/14 P. v. Gallardo CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D064486

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD246000)

ANGEL GALLARDO,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Louis R.

Hanoian, Judge. Affirmed.

Alissa Bjerkhoel, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Arlene A. Sevidal, Andrew

Mestman and Lise S. Jacobson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury convicted defendant and appellant Angel Gallardo of felony robbery (Pen.

Code, § 211), felony resisting an executive officer (Pen. Code, § 69), and felony disturbing the peace (Pen. Code, § 415, subd. (1)) but acquitted him of possession of a

deadly weapon in a penal institution (Pen. Code, § 4502, subd. (a)).

On appeal, Gallardo challenges his robbery conviction on multiple grounds. He

contends the trial court violated his right to due process by admitting identification

evidence resulting from unduly suggestive pretrial identification procedures. Gallardo

also claims his defense counsel was ineffective in failing to object to admission of the

identification evidence and in failing to call an eyewitness identification expert at trial.

Finally, he argues the prosecutor committed error during closing argument by improperly

shifting the burden of proof to the defense. We reject Gallardo's contentions and affirm

the judgment.

FACTS

The Robbery

Around 5:25 p.m. on January 31, 2013, Michael Verdin rode his bicycle to a City

of San Diego recreation center and joined a group of 10 to 20 people.1 About an hour

later, Gallardo, a member of the East San Diego (ESD) criminal street gang, and a

younger man walked towards Verdin's bicycle. The younger man got onto Verdin's

bicycle. Verdin confronted the younger man and said, "Hey, get off my bike." The

younger man responded, "I'm going to drop your ass" and "You're going to have to fight

me for it." Verdin told the younger man, "I don't want any problems." The younger man

said, "Fuck you. You will have to fight me for it." Verdin grabbed the handlebar, at

1 On appeal, we set forth the facts in the manner most favorable to the judgment. (People v. Martinez (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 1169, 1173.) Because Gallardo appeals only his robbery conviction, we limit our discussion of the facts to the robbery and subsequent identifications. 2 which point the younger man moved his hand as if he were going to strike Verdin.

Brian Gonzalez, a security guard standing about 15 to 20 feet away from the

incident, approached and told the younger man, "Give him back his bike or I'm going to

call the cops." Gallardo replied, "You don't know what's going on. I'm going to handle

this." Gonzalez turned, walked 15 feet towards his security guard partner Oscar Pulido,

and called the police.

When Gonzalez turned away, Gallardo punched Verdin in the mouth, knocking

him to the ground. Verdin did not lose consciousness but stayed on the ground to avoid

being hit again. When Verdin finally stood up, Gallardo and the younger man left with

the bicycle.

The Identification of Gallardo

Verdin described the person who punched him as a 30- to 40-year-old balding

Hispanic male of skinny build, between five feet eight inches and six feet tall, with a

moustache, tattoos on his neck and by his eye, and wearing a gray T-shirt.2 Verdin had

seen the older man once or twice before.

Pulido described the older individual as a six-foot Hispanic male with a shaved

head, around 230 pounds with lots of tattoos, including an "SD" tattoo on his neck,

wearing shorts and a white tank top.

Gonzalez described the older male as a Hispanic male in his mid-30's, between 5

feet 8 or 10 inches tall, with a moustache and large "ESD" tattoo on his neck. About an

hour after Gonzalez called the police, he also wrote in his security report that the older

2 Verdin and Gonzalez also provided descriptions of the younger man. 3 man was wearing a gray shirt, dark jeans, dark beanie, white and black gloves, and had an

"ESD" tattoo on his neck. Gonzalez had seen the older man two or three times before the

robbery.

The Field Showup

After the police broadcast a description of both suspects, San Diego Police

Officers Bruce Porterfield and Brian McGilvray searched the area for the two men.

Officer McGilvray also reviewed descriptions of ESD members and determined Gallardo

matched the description of the older suspect. The officers went to Gallardo's house, but

he was not there.

The officers then located two different men in two separate locations who

resembled the younger suspect. Officer Christopher Flood drove Verdin to separate

single person field showups to view the two men. Officer Flood admonished Verdin

prior to each showup. Verdin did not identify either man as a suspect.

About six hours after the robbery, around 12:30 a.m., Officers Porterfield and

McGilvray spotted Gallardo in an alley near where the robbery occurred. Gallardo was

wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, and gloves. Gallardo had a tattoo on his

forehead that said "Fuck Jollys," a tattoo under his eye that said "ES," and a tattoo on his

neck that said "ESD."

San Diego Police Officer Oscar Amado drove Verdin to a field showup to view

Gallardo. As Officer Flood had done earlier, Officer Amado admonished Verdin before

the viewing. The officers illuminated Gallardo with spotlights from their police cars.

When police removed Gallardo from the patrol car, Verdin identified him as the older

man who robbed and punched him. Verdin was in the back of the patrol car, about 30

4 feet from Gallardo. The police arrested Gallardo.

The "Six-Pack" Lineup

Detective John Reif assembled a "six-pack" photo lineup after Gallardo's arrest.

In doing so, Detective Reif contacted Detective Timothy Smith for a list of people with

tattoos similar to Gallardo's neck tattoo. All six men depicted in the lineup were ESD

members around Gallardo's age. According to Detective Smith, four men, including

Gallardo, had "ESD" neck tattoos. Two men, including Gallardo, had a tattoo near their

left eye.

Detective Reif showed the lineup to Pulido and Gonzalez the day after the

robbery. He read admonitions to both men. Pulido did not identify anyone in the lineup

but pointed to Gallardo's photo and said, "that looks like the tattoo." Gonzalez identified

Gallardo as the man who punched Verdin. Gonzalez said he was able to eliminate four of

the men who did not have "ESD" neck tattoos.3 Gonzalez also identified Gallardo at

trial.

The Defense Version

Gallardo testified on his own behalf and claimed he was at his brother's house the

day of the robbery from 5:45 p.m.

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