People v. Garner CA6

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 2015
DocketH041132
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Garner CA6 (People v. Garner CA6) 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. Garner CA6, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 12/22/15 P. v. Garner CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H041132 (Monterey County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. SS122041)

v.

JARVIS GARNER,

Defendant and Appellant.

I. INTRODUCTION Defendant Jarvis Garner appeals after a jury found him guilty of two counts of possessing a weapon in prison. (Pen. Code, § 4502, subd (a); counts 1 & 2.)1 Defendant admitted allegations that he had suffered four prior convictions that qualified as strikes. (§ 1170.12.) As to count 1, the trial court dismissed three of the four strike allegations pursuant to People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero), but as to count 2, the trial court declined to dismiss any of the strikes. The trial court sentenced defendant to a six-year prison term for count 1 and a consecutive prison term of 25 years to life for count 2, with both terms ordered to run consecutively to a 50-year term that defendant was serving in a prior case.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by denying his Romero motion and that the denial of his Romero motion violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Defendant also requests this court review the confidential proceedings held after the trial court granted his Pitchess motion. (Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531.) We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant’s Romero motion and that the denial of that motion did not violate defendant’s rights under the Eighth Amendment. However, we will reverse the judgment and remand for a further hearing on defendant’s Pitchess motion, because the record is insufficient for us to determine whether the trial court properly exercised its discretion in making its discovery rulings. (See People v. Mooc (2001) 26 Cal.4th 1216, 1231 (Mooc).)

II. BACKGROUND A. The Current Offenses On January 29, 2012, Correctional Officer Arthur Puente was working at the Salinas Valley State Prison, where defendant was an inmate. Officer Puente searched defendant in the presence of two other officers. Officer Puente felt a hard object around defendant’s inner thigh. The object was tied to the drawstring of defendant’s sweatpants. Officer Puente retrieved the object and discovered that it was an inmate-manufactured weapon. Clear plastic pen tubes had been melted together to form a tip, which had been sharpened to a point. The weapon could be used to stab someone and was similar to weapons other inmates had used as stabbing weapons and which had caused serious injuries. On January 12, 2013, Correctional Officer Jose Molina conducted a search of defendant, using a hand-held metal detector, in the presence of one other officer. After the detector alerted on defendant’s shoe, Officer Molina removed the shoe and found

2 another plastic inmate-manufactured weapon, which was similar to the weapon found on defendant during the January 29, 2012 search. B. The Strike Offenses/Criminal History On November 18, 2001, defendant was 14 years old. He and an 18-year-old companion approached the two victims, a male and a female who were on a date. Defendant or his companion pointed a gun at the victims and said he wanted their wallets and the keys to their car. Defendant and his companion then took the female victim, drove off in the car, and later took turns raping her. Defendant was tried as an adult, and in 2002 he pleaded guilty to four offenses: carjacking (§ 215, subd. (a)), forcible rape in concert (§ 264.1), forcible oral copulation in concert (§ 288a, subd. (d)), and forcible sodomy in concert (§ 286, subd. (d)). Defendant also admitted that he personally used a firearm in the commission of the carjacking (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)) and that he used a firearm or deadly weapon in the commission of the forcible rape in concert (§ 12022.3, subd. (a)). Defendant was sentenced to a 50-year prison term. Defendant’s criminal history began prior to his commission of the strike offenses. In 1996, he was adjudged a ward of the juvenile court for felony animal cruelty. Also in 1996, he committed grand theft from a person three times; each time he was found in violation of his probation in the animal cruelty case. In 1999, he was arrested for vandalism, but the petition was dismissed. According to the probation report prepared in 2002, defendant was in ninth grade at the time of his arrest for the strike offenses, and he continued taking classes while in juvenile hall. Defendant had previously mowed lawns for income. He reporting consuming alcohol about twice a week and smoking marijuana about 20 times. Defendant indicated he was not abused as a child and that his family did not have a history of criminality or drug abuse. Defendant was not a member of a criminal street

3 gang. Defendant had been diagnosed with Psychotic Disorder, Paranoid Schizophrenia, Conduct Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. C. Procedural Background – Count 1 In an information filed on January 15, 2013, defendant was charged with possession of a weapon by a prisoner (§ 4502, subd. (a)) on January 20, 2012. The information alleged four prior strikes. Defendant pleaded not guilty and denied the strike allegations. Defendant filed a Romero motion on February 28, 2013. Defendant requested the trial court dismiss his prior convictions in the interests of justice, arguing that the prior convictions were remote in time (i.e., over 10 years old), that his current crime was not a violent or serious felony, that his record showed that his criminal conduct was decreasing in severity, that he had been taking steps to address his drug use, that his current offense was relatively minor compared to his strike offenses, that he had been only 14 years old at the time of the strike offenses, that he had prospects for a stable life, that his strikes all occurred on one occasion, and that he was already serving a lengthy sentence. Defendant’s trial counsel submitted a declaration in support of the Romero motion, in which he alleged that defendant’s mother was addicted to drugs when defendant was a child and that defendant had been forced to participate in burglaries with his mother. The declaration further alleged that defendant had essentially been raised by his older siblings, that he had been sexually abused by a friend of his mother’s, that he had been placed in special education, and that he had been under the influence of marijuana and alcohol at the time of the strike offenses. Additionally, the declaration alleged that defendant had not participated in the rape. The declaration acknowledged that defendant had received “write-ups” for fighting and disobedience while in the California Youth Authority (CYA) but alleged that defendant had initiated only two of the fights. The declaration stated that defendant had participated in vocational, academic, anger management, and substance abuse classes while incarcerated.

4 The trial court granted defendant’s Romero motion as to three of the four strike allegations on April 17, 2013. The trial court found that the incident leading to defendant’s prior convictions was “incredibly serious, incredibly violent, [and] incredibly life-altering” for the victims.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Garner CA6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-garner-ca6-calctapp-2015.