People v. Hammond

22 Cal. App. 4th 1611, 28 Cal. Rptr. 2d 180, 94 Daily Journal DAR 2697, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1596, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 181
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 1, 1994
DocketF019426
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 22 Cal. App. 4th 1611 (People v. Hammond) 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. Hammond, 22 Cal. App. 4th 1611, 28 Cal. Rptr. 2d 180, 94 Daily Journal DAR 2697, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1596, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 181 (Cal. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

*1614 Opinion

an immediately subsequent court trial on a bifurcated allegation that appellant had previously been convicted of the serious felony of robbery (see Pen. Code, §§ 667, 211, and 1192.7, subd. (c)), the court found that allegation to be true. Appellant was sentenced to a total term of 11 years in state prison. This consisted of a six-year upper term for the burglary plus a five-year enhancement for the prior conviction. He now appeals.

Prior to the presentation of evidence, and during the selection of appellant’s jury, appellant moved for a mistrial after the prosecutor had utilized the first three of his ten peremptory challenges (see Code Civ. Proc., § 231, subd. (a)) to excuse three of the first six Hispanic-sumamed prospective jurors to be called to the jury box. Appellant contended that the prosecutor was “systematically excluding members of that particular ethnic group,” a practice prohibited by the California Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748]. The court held a hearing, out of the presence of the jury, on this motion. After hearing the prosecutor’s explanations for having challenged each of the three prospective jurors, the court denied the motion and jury selection was completed.

The prosecutor presented his case-in-chief and appellant presented his defense. After the defense rested, respondent attempted to call a rebuttal witness, Officer John Souza, whose identity had not been disclosed to appellant during pretrial discovery. Appellant objected to Souza testifying, but the objection was overruled.

Appellant contends on this appeal that the court erred in denying his Wheeler motion and in permitting the testimony of a witness (Souza) whose identity had not been disclosed to appellant during pretrial discovery. After we first present a brief summary of the evidence presented at trial, we will then address each of appellant’s contentions and explain why we find them to be without merit. We will affirm.

Facts

On June 11, 1992, John Laudenslayer’s home, located at 325 Wilson Street in Modesto, was burglarized. Laudenslayer locked the doors and left for work at approximately 8 a.m. that day. He returned home about 3 p.m. and noticed that his back door was damaged. It looked like it had been kicked in. After going through the house, he discovered about 20 items *1615 missing, including guns, gun cases, bedding, a turquoise tank top, a leather bag with cologne, and a tent which had been set up in the backyard. The rope that fastened the tent to the stakes had been cut. Laudenslayer had never met appellant, did not know appellant, and had not given appellant permission to take any of these items.

Paul Chilles, who lived around the corner from Laudenslayer, happened to be looking out his window the same day, at approximately 3 p.m., when he saw two men sitting in a parked car, just around the comer from Lauden-slayer’s home. The two men sat there for awhile and then got out and went around and opened the trunk. One of the men took out a pair of jogging pants and put them on, and then went back and removed a tire iron which he put down the front of his pants. The man had a newspaper which he held in front of him as if to cover up the iron which was protruding from his pants. Chilles then saw the two men walk towards Wilson Street and disappear. They were one lot away from Laudenslayer’s residence.

Chilles described the car the two men were in as a 1970’s two-door, green and white Chevy. Chilles used binoculars to read the license plate number, which he wrote down and gave to the district attorney’s office. The license plate number was 2 JWH 471. He described the two men as being in their middle to late thirties, Caucasian, about five feet, ten inches or six feet in height, one hundred seventy-five pounds, with light sandy-brown shoulder length hair. Appellant’s stature and build, as well as his hair length, were similar to that of the two men Chilles saw that afternoon.

Another neighbor, Elmer Stevens, saw a similar appearing green and white Chevy enter the alley behind Laudenslayer’s home around 3 p.m. on June 11th, and then saw it back out quickly. It came from, the direction of Laudenslayer’s house.

Vanessa Wann sold her 1974 two-door green and white Chevy Malibu to appellant in May or June of 1992. The license plate number was 2 JWH 471.

On June 23, 1992, appellant was involved in a car accident and was arrested shortly afterwards. The car he was driving was impounded and towed away. It was a 1974 Chevy Malibu, green and white in color, license plate number 1 JWH 471. 1

A search warrant was obtained and the trunk of the vehicle was searched. Laudenslayer was present at the time and identified, a number of the items in *1616 the trunk as property which was taken from his house on June 11th. These items included a three-man blue tent, a shirt, and a leather bag. In addition, an envelope was seized bearing the name “Nelva Richardson for Stephen Hammond” and an address of 2708 Joy Avenue, Ceres. The envelope was located among the numerous items stored in the trunk. Police investigation of Laudenslayer’s house determined that his back door had been pried open with a crowbar or a tire iron.

Appellant did not testify, but called one witness in support of his defense. Ricky Vaughn, a long-time friend of appellant, testified that he drove appellant’s car a couple of times in June of 1992, and on one occasion drove appellant to Gardner’s Cove and dropped him off for a couple of days so that appellant could go fishing. Vaughn parked the car at his own mother’s house and at appellant’s mother’s house. Three or four other people, none of whom Vaughn identified by name, also drove the car. Vaughn was impeached with six prior convictions, including two for burglary and two for robbery. He was also asked whether he had a third burglary conviction and replied “I don’t recall.” 2 He and appellant were both inmates in the county jail in July of 1992, and Vaughn spoke to appellant there. Vaughn did not at first volunteer to testify for appellant, but agreed to do so when appellant’s lawyer asked him to.

Appellant exhibited his tattooed arms to the jury.

In rebuttal, respondent called Officer Souza, a Ceres police officer. Souza testified that on June 11, 1992, at approximately 12:50 a.m., he made a traffic stop, and appellant was in the car. Appellant was driving an older model Chevy Malibu, green and white in color, license plate number 2 JWH 471. The stop was made on Herndon Road about a mile and a half north of Joy Street in Ceres. He recognized appellant because he had stopped him in the same car about a week earlier.

I.

Appellant’s Wheeler Motion

*1617 II.

Testimony of Witness Whose Identity Was Not Disclosed in Pretrial Discovery

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Bluebook (online)
22 Cal. App. 4th 1611, 28 Cal. Rptr. 2d 180, 94 Daily Journal DAR 2697, 94 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1596, 1994 Cal. App. LEXIS 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hammond-calctapp-1994.