People v. Gonsalves CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 5, 2021
DocketC087003
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Gonsalves CA3 (People v. Gonsalves CA3) 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. Gonsalves CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

Filed 5/5/21 P. v. Gonsalves CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Butte) ----

THE PEOPLE, C087003 & C090796

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. CM036102)

v.

LORAYNA PATRICIA GONSALVES,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Lorayna Patricia Gonsalves was convicted by jury of one count of first degree residential robbery (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 212.5, subd. (a))1 and one count of home invasion robbery (§ 213, subd. (a)(1)(A)) based on the same conduct. With respect to each count, the jury also found a principal was armed with a firearm (§ 12022, subd. (a)(1)) and defendant personally used a deadly weapon, i.e., a baseball bat

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found defendant had one prior serious felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)), qualifying as a strike within the meaning of the three strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170, subds. (a)-(d)), and for which she served a prior prison term (§ 667.5). Defendant was sentenced to serve an aggregate determinate term of 25 years in state prison. Defendant appeals. In case No. C087003, she argues: (1) we must reverse her conviction for first degree residential robbery because that crime is a necessarily included offense of home invasion robbery; (2) the evidence is insufficient to support defendant’s conviction for either count of robbery and is also insufficient to support the attached enhancements for personal use of a deadly weapon; (3) defendant’s trial counsel provided constitutionally deficient assistance by failing to object to a certain question posed by the prosecutor to a witness who lived at the residence where the robbery occurred, the response to which supplied the only evidence that the victim had a small amount of money taken from him during the robbery; (4) the aforementioned question also amounted to prejudicial prosecutorial misconduct; (5) we must modify the judgment to stay one of defendant’s weapon enhancements; and (6) we must remand the matter for a new sentencing hearing because Senate Bill No. 1393 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill 1393) (Stats. 2018, ch. 1013, §§ 1, 2), giving the trial court discretion to strike five- year prior serious felony enhancements in the interest of justice, applies retroactively to cases not yet final on appeal. While the appeal in C087003 was pending, the trial court recalled the sentence pursuant to section 1170, subdivision (d), and resentenced defendant in light of Senate Bill 1393, striking the five-year enhancement term in the interest of justice, and affirming the previous sentence in all other respects, resulting in an aggregate determinate term of 20 years in state prison. Defendant appeals from this judgment as well, arguing in case No. C090796 that we must also strike the one-year prior prison term enhancement because Senate Bill No. 136 (2019-2020 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2019, ch. 590, § 1),

2 eliminating such enhancements for defendant’s prior crime, also applies retroactively to cases not yet final on appeal, and the abstract of judgment must be corrected to reflect the oral pronouncement thereof. We consolidated the appeals for purposes of argument and disposition. We conclude the judgments entered against defendant must be reversed because she received constitutionally deficient representation at trial. As we explain more fully later in the opinion, defendant’s trial counsel failed to object to inadmissible evidence that was the only evidence supporting an essential element of the crime of robbery. There is no conceivable tactical reason that could justify counsel’s failure to object to this evidence. Nor are we persuaded by the Attorney General’s argument that the failure was harmless. This conclusion obviates the need to address most of defendant’s remaining claims in her consolidated appeals. We do, however, address her challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence in order to determine whether this case may be remanded to give the People the option of retrial. We conclude her convictions and enhancement findings are supported by substantial evidence. We also consider defendant’s claim, conceded by the Attorney General, that she was improperly convicted of both a greater and lesser included offense in order to provide guidance on remand in the event the People do elect to retry her. We accept the concession. Defendant may not be convicted of both first degree residential robbery and home invasion robbery based on the same conduct. We shall remand the matter to the trial court for retrial if the People so elect within 30 days of the issuance of the remittitur. FACTS In November 2011, Y. lived in Chico with her boyfriend, V., and their two small children. V. sold illegal drugs, often carried cash on him, and seemed to enjoy opening his wallet in front of other people to display the money. As Y. explained, “he came from nothing” and “liked showing it off to people.” On the night of the robbery, they had two guests at their apartment, R. and his wife. R., who would soon become the robbery

3 victim, was both a friend and a mechanic. He was at the apartment earlier in the day to help V. work on a car. He forgot his jacket when he left that afternoon. Returning in the evening to pick it up, he and his wife ended up staying to watch a movie. The robbery unfolded as follows. Y. answered a knock at the door. Defendant, “a girl [she] had never seen in [her] life,” was on the other side. Defendant asked for V., who came to the door. The two briefly spoke and defendant left. A short time later, Y. answered a second knock at the door. This time, there was a man on the other side. Y. recognized him as one of her brother’s friends, so she let him come inside. The new arrival went into the kitchen and started talking to R., who was also in the kitchen. While Y. could not hear what they were saying, she later learned the man demanded money from R., causing her to believe the man mistook R. for her boyfriend. Y. then heard “pushing and shoving” coming from the kitchen, followed by a gunshot. The sound of the gunshot brought additional people into the apartment. As Y. described the intruders, there were “several males” and “the girl that first came.” Defendant entered the apartment with a metal baseball bat. Her companions entered demanding: “Where’s the money? Where’s the money?” Y. immediately ran to protect her daughter, who was asleep in the living room. V. grabbed their son and took him into a bedroom. They escaped through a window with the help of R.’s wife, who used her body to block the door to the bedroom. As the intruders dispersed through the small apartment in search of money, defendant stood next to R. with the baseball bat. R. had been shot in his right hand and was lying on the kitchen floor. It appeared to Y. that defendant was ensuring that he did not get up. Not long after they arrived, defendant said to her companions: “There’s nothing here. There’s nothing here. Let’s go.” Following her direction, they left as quickly as they came. The only evidence that anything of value was taken during these events came in the form of Y.’s answer to the following question: “And it was your understanding that

4 [R.] lost only a small amount of cash?” Y. answered: “Yeah.” We place this answer in its proper context during the discussion portion of the opinion, to which we now turn.

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People v. Gonsalves CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-gonsalves-ca3-calctapp-2021.