People v. Godwin

50 Cal. App. 4th 1562, 58 Cal. Rptr. 2d 545, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14071, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8488, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 1091
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 21, 1996
DocketB094909
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 50 Cal. App. 4th 1562 (People v. Godwin) 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. Godwin, 50 Cal. App. 4th 1562, 58 Cal. Rptr. 2d 545, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14071, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8488, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 1091 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

Elaine Godwin appeals from the judgment entered following a jury trial resulting in her convictions for five counts of second degree robbery and attempted second degree robbery (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 213), with five findings she used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a starter pistol (Pen. Code, § 12022, subd. (b)), and three findings the victim was sixty-five years of age or older (Pen. Code, § 667.9, subd. (a)). She contends: “I. The trial court violated appellant’s right to a fair trial by restricting the defense cross-examination of an adverse witness. II. Modifications to the reasonable doubt jury instruction failed to adequately define that standard as required by the federal Constitution and violated ex post facto principles of the State and Federal Constitutions. III. Appellant’s sentence in this matter was improperly enhanced pursuant to Penal Code section 12202(b).”

Facts

I. Count 2 Robbery as to Louise Fischer With the Use of a Deadly and Dangerous Weapon and a Finding the Victim Was 65 Years of Age, or Older.

Viewed in accordance with the usual rules on appeal (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206 [26 Cal.Rptr.2d 23, 864 P.2d 103]), the evidence established that at 1:55 a.m. on September 8,1994, Louise Fischer, age 75, was sitting on a bench in front of Robert’s Department Store, which was nearby a Sav-On Drug Store on Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach. Appellant chatted with Fischer briefly, telling Fischer she was waiting for a ride to go to work. Suddenly, appellant demanded Fischer’s purse. When Fischer refused, appellant flipped open her blouse and showed Fischer an iridescent, square object, which Fischer believed might be a handgun. Appellant told Fischer someone in the parking lot was watching her and Fischer, now afraid, turned over her purse to appellant. Appellant instructed Fischer to remain there for 15 minutes and left.

[1566]*1566II. Count 3 Robbery as to Roy Zomes With the Use of a Deadly and Dangerous Weapon and a Finding the Victim Was 65 Years of Age, or Older

Roy Zomes, age 79, testified that on September 26, 1994, he left the Sav-On Dmg Store at 4570 Atlantic Boulevard in Long Beach and got into his car. Appellant approached. Appellant said she needed a ride since her car battery was dead and she had to get to her mother’s house four blocks away in order to get to work at a hospital. She begged him to take her, and he agreed. On Linden Avenue, she had him pull over to the curb as if she was at her mother’s residence, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at him and demanded money. She took $24 out of his wallet and his car keys and threatened to shoot him, then fled with the car keys. Zomes identified a starter pistol in court as the gun appellant used during the robbery and said the gun used during the robbery was “a little black gun about four to five inches long.”

III. Count 4 Robbery as to Vinzent Warren With the Use of a Deadly and Dangerous Weapon

Vinzent Warren, age 80, was deceased at the time of the trial. Warren testified at the preliminary hearing that at 2 p.m. on October 20, 1994, he was walking to his car in the Sav-On parking lot on Atlantic Avenue when appellant approached him. She claimed her car broke down and she asked for a ride. He gave her the ride. At California and 55th Streets, she told him to stop and to get out his wallet. She pointed at him the barrel of a blue steel revolver which was in her lap. She removed $370 from his wallet and took his car keys and threatened to shoot and kill him. She told him to wait in the car for 20 minutes and walked off with his keys. Warren described the handgun appellant used during the robbery as a “blue steel revolver with a short barrel.” He never saw the gun’s handle.

IV. Count 5 Attempted Robbery as to Claire Pollard With the Use of a Deadly and Dangerous Weapon

At 6:45 p.m. or so on October 29,1994, 59-year-old Claire Pollard left the Sav-On Dmg Store at 4570 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach with her husband, 57-year-old Thomas Pollard.1 Appellant approached and asked for a ride, claiming her car had run out of gasoline. She said she was a nurse and had to get to work. The Pollards agreed, and appellant had them drive into a residential area near her originally stated destination at Market Street and [1567]*1567Atlantic Avenue. Thomas Pollard became suspicious and said, “This is as far as we go,” and he stopped the minivan. Appellant got out of the minivan after Claire Pollard got out and opened the side sliding door for appellant. As Claire Pollard returned to the minivan’s front passenger seat, appellant stood at Claire Pollard’s open front door with a small handgun in her hand and demanded money. Claire Pollard got upset, got out of the minivan and said, “I belong to Jesus Christ and you are in deep trouble.” Appellant backed off. Then Claire Pollard returned to her car seat and closed her door and Thomas Pollard drove off.

At the trial, the prosecutor had Claire Pollard examine the starter pistol and asked her if that was the handgun appellant used during the attempted robbery. Claire Pollard testified it did not appear to be the same gun. Claire Pollard explained the gun appellant displayed to her was “just a little tiny, about this big.” The court indicated for the record Claire Pollard had indicated an item about three inches long. Claire Pollard said, when she confronted appellant, she did not know if the gun was loaded or not. Appellant did not point the gun at either one of them and did not expressly threaten to shoot. But appellant confronted Claire Pollard by positioning herself with her back against the open front passenger door and standing “a little bit” against Claire Pollard. Appellant had the gun in her hand at that time and said, “ ‘Well, just give me your money. Just give me your money, then nothing will happen.’ ”

V. Count 7 Robbery as to Richard Larson With the Use of a Deadly and Dangerous Weapon.

On October 31, 1994, 61-year-old Richard Larson walked to his car parked in the Sav-On Drug Store’s parking lot. A young woman approached and claimed her car had broken down. The woman asked Larson if he could drive her about 12 blocks north to Market Street and Atlantic Avenue to a nursing home for work. He agreed. At 56th Street, she told him to turn right and then turn right again and she told him to stop. He followed her directions. Suddenly, she took his keys from his ignition and pulled a gun from her bra. She pointed the gun at him, told him twice she would “shoot to kill,” and demanded his money. He gave her $240 or $250 and she fled with his car keys.

Appellant had an appearance similar to the female robber’s, but he was not sure appellant was the robber. The starter pistol in court was similar in size and color to the handgun the woman used during the robbery. The prosecutor indicated the starter pistol appeared to be a “simulated revolver-type weapon.” Larson’s reply was, during the robbery, appellant had the [1568]*1568weapon covered with her hand. Larson described how appellant pointed the gun in his general direction and a little forward at about her waist and chest height.

VI. Count 1 Robbery as to Ben Davis With a Finding Davis Was 65 Years of Age, or Older.

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People v. Godwin
50 Cal. App. 4th 1562 (California Court of Appeal, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 Cal. App. 4th 1562, 58 Cal. Rptr. 2d 545, 96 Daily Journal DAR 14071, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8488, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 1091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-godwin-calctapp-1996.