People v. Grimble

116 Cal. App. 3d 678, 172 Cal. Rptr. 362, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 1484
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 9, 1981
DocketDocket Nos. 36642. 37058
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 116 Cal. App. 3d 678 (People v. Grimble) 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. Grimble, 116 Cal. App. 3d 678, 172 Cal. Rptr. 362, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 1484 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Opinion

OLDER, J. *

Appellant was found guilty by a jury of one count of kidnaping for the purpose of robbery (Pen. Code, § 209, subd. (b)), one count of rape (Pen. Code, § 261, subds. 2, .3), three counts of robbery (Pen. Code, § 211), one count of burglary (Pen. Code, § 459), and one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (b)). The jury also found to be true allegations as to each count that appellant used a firearm at the time of the commission of the offense (Pen. Code, § 12022.5).

Appellant’s motion for a new trial as to count I (kidnaping) was granted.

On November 19, 1979, probation was denied, the court found circumstances in aggravation, and appellant was sentenced on counts II through VII to the state prison for a total term of 15 years.

On January 18 and 21, 1980, appellant was retried by a jury on count I. The jury found appellant guilty as charged of kidnaping for the purpose of robbery, and further found the use allegation to be true.

*682 On January 22, 1980, the trial court vacated the earlier sentence and resentenced appellant on all counts pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.1. Probation was denied, the court found circumstances in aggravation, and appellant was sentenced to a total term of life, plus two years, plus six years.

On March 7, 1980, the court vacated its sentence imposed on January 22, 1980, and resentenced appellant. Probation was denied, the court found circumstances in aggravation, and appellant was sentenced to a total term of thirteen years, four months, plus a life term, plus two years. 1

Appellant appeals on two grounds: (1) That the trial court lacked jurisdiction to resentence appellant to a greater term on March 7, 1980, and (2) that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction under Penal Code section 245, subdivision (b). We conclude that there is no merit in either ground and the judgment must be affirmed.

The evidence established that on July 17, 1979, at about 1:30 a.m., Jocelyn B. (Jocelyn) arrived home from work as a telephone operator. As she approached the door to her apartment, she heard footsteps in the hallway. After letting herself in she locked and barred the door. Her mother, Ellen C., and her daughter, Catherine B., were staying with her. Jocelyn heard a request from outside the door to use the telephone. She told the person to go somewhere else. The doorbell started ringing. She told the person to go away and threatened to call the police. Appellant then kicked in the door. He was holding a handgun.

Appellant pulled the telephone out of the wall, pointed his gun at all three of the occupants and demanded money. He dumped the contents of Mrs. C.’s purse on the floor and ordered the women to put all of their possessions into pillowcases. The victims complied by emptying the drawers in the apartment and filling the pillowcases. Jocelyn removed her jewelry and handed it to appellant. Appellant then ordered the victims to remove their clothes, stating that they would not attempt to escape if they were undressed.

After the victims disrobed appellant pulled Jocelyn into the bathroom and raped her at gunpoint. While appellant was in the bathroom with *683 Jocelyn, Mrs. C. and Jocelyn’s daughter went upstairs to the manager’s apartment and asked the manager to call the police.

Appellant then pulled Jocelyn by the hair out of the bathroom and through the apartment, ordering her to pick up the pillowcases. He then pulled her out of the building, ordering her to give him the keys to her car and to take him to her car. As Jocelyn was searching through the pillowcases for the keys, a car came into the driveway. Appellant pulled her down behind a trash barrel. When it was quiet, appellant pulled Jocelyn by the hair down an embankment and across the street toward some parked cars.

At that point Jocelyn saw a police car driving up. She escaped from appellant and ran to the police car. She told the police that appellant had a gun and pointed to appellant’s location. Jocelyn then ran across the street, heard shots, and ran back to where the police officers were standing. Appellant was lying on the ground.

Police Officer Bourgeois testified that he and his partner responded to a call at about 2 a.m. on July 17, 1979. Bourgeois was in uniform. Bourgeois parked his police vehicle and saw a silhouetted figure cross the street and hide behind a car. At about the same time Bourgeois observed a second police car pass him and proceed toward the rear of the building in front of which he had parked his vehicle. Bourgeois and his partner crossed the street and saw a person crouched between two large trash dumpsters. As Bourgeois started across the street the officers in the sécond police vehicle also started walking across the street in the same direction. Bourgeois turned his flashlight on the crouched person and ordered him to stand up and come out. Appellant stood up with a gun in his hand pointed at Bourgeois. Appellant was closer than 10 feet to Bourgeois. Bourgeois stepped to his left and drew his gun. Appellant turned in the direction of Bourgeois, continuing to point his gun at Bourgeois. Bourgeois fired two shots at appellant and appellant fell to the ground. The encounter between Bourgeois and appellant lasted three to five seconds. During this encounter Bourgeois’ partner and the two other officers from the second police vehicle were within 20 feet of Bourgeois at the time of the shooting.

Appellant first contends that the trial court acted in excess of its jurisdiction on March 7, 1980, in resentencing appellant to a greater term after appellant had commenced to serve his earlier sentence. Appellant *684 bases his contention on the fact that the March 7 sentence was not imposed by the trial court under Penal Code section 669 2 for the reason that the Department of Corrections had advised it of the existence of a prior judgment, since there were none within the meaning of Penal Code section 669 (In re Calhoun (1976) 17 Cal.3d 75 [130 Cal.Rptr. 139, 549 P.2d 1235]), or because the department notified the trial court of any judgment of which the court was unaware. Appellant argues that the “error” corrected in the March 7 sentence was judicial, not clerical, and thus beyond the power of the court to correct. Appellant had commenced to serve the sentence imposed on January 22, 1980, before the pronouncement of the sentence on March 7.

The difficulty with appellant’s theory is that the sentence imposed on January 22, 1980, was patently contrary to the provisions of Penal Code section 669 and therefore illegal. We construe Penal Code section 669 to mean that whenever a person is sentenced to prison on a life sentence and any other term of imprisonment for a felony conviction, and the sentences are to run consecutively, the sentence must provide that the determinate term of imprisonment shall be served first and the life sen *685

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
116 Cal. App. 3d 678, 172 Cal. Rptr. 362, 1981 Cal. App. LEXIS 1484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-grimble-calctapp-1981.