People v. Harris CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 28, 2022
DocketF080231
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Harris CA5 (People v. Harris CA5) 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. Harris CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Filed 3/28/22 P. v. Harris CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, F080231 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Stanislaus Super. Ct. No. 1251412) v.

CAROL LAVERNE HARRIS, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT* APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County. Nancy Ashley, Judge. James S. Thomson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Office of the Attorney General, Sacramento, California, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo-

* Before Levy, Acting P. J., Poochigian, J. and Detjen, J. INTRODUCTION In 2010, appellant and defendant Carol Laverne Harris was convicted of the second degree murder of her husband, Karl Johnson, and sentenced to 15 years to life. In 2014, this court affirmed her conviction. In 2019, defendant filed a petition in the superior court for resentencing of her second degree murder conviction pursuant to Penal Code1 section 1170.95, and argued she was improperly convicted under the natural and probable consequences doctrine, and she was not a major participant and did not act with reckless indifference to human life. The court denied the petition. On appeal, her appellate counsel has filed a brief which summarizes the facts with citations to the record, raises no issues, and asks this court to independently review the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) We affirm. FACTS2 On August 30, 2008, defendant called her son, Dasheme Hosley (Dasheme), and falsely said her husband, Karl Johnson (Johnson) had physically abused her. Defendant told Dasheme to come over to her house and handle it. When Dasheme arrived at the house, Johnson hesitated to answer the door, but defendant insisted he do so. When Johnson opened the door, Dasheme fatally shot him. 3

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. 2 The People filed a partial copy of this court’s unpublished opinion in defendant’s first appeal as an exhibit in opposition to defendant’s section 1170.95 petition, with the factual statement, and defendant did not object to the exhibit. On appeal, defendant augmented the record to include the reporter’s transcript from her 2010 trial. Given this background, we take judicial notice of the appellate record and this court’s nonpublished opinion in People v. Harris, May 22, 2014, F065104, for the factual and procedural background for Harris’s conviction and sentence. (Evid. Code, §§ 450, 452, subd. (d), § 459; In re W.R. (2018) 22 Cal.App.5th 284, 286–287, fn. 2.) 3 As will be explained below, Dasheme was charged with murder in this case but was tried separately from defendant. Deleon Hosley, also defendant’s son, was charged with being an accessory. For clarity, we refer to the Hosley brothers by their first names; no disrespect is intended.

2. The prosecution introduced the following evidence to establish what happened before, during, and after the murder, and defendant’s statements to the witnesses. Desamona Crowder’s Testimony Desamona Crowder (Crowder) and Dasheme had a child together.4 In August 2008, Crowder frequented an apartment in San Leandro where Dasheme lived with Alisia Brown. On the night in question, Crowder, Dasheme, and their daughter were at the apartment with Alisa Brown and Lamar Vincent.5 Crowder and Dasheme were using cocaine. At some point during the evening, Dasheme received a telephone call. When he hung up, he said it was defendant and that she was crying. He became upset and angry, because the phone call ended or was dropped before he could get the complete story, so he did not know what was wrong. Crowder knew, from having been hit by Dasheme before, that he could be violent when angry and that anything could upset him. Crowder had discussed with defendant the fact Dasheme would sometimes become violent and hit Crowder. Dasheme told Crowder to call George Willoughby, because they were going to go to Modesto. When Willoughby did not answer his phone, Crowder texted him. Willoughby called Dasheme about 30 minutes later. When Willoughby arrived at the apartment, Dasheme, Crowder, and Vincent got in his car. Crowder knew they were going to Modesto, because she heard Dasheme say that defendant “had got into a fight, and he went to see if something was wrong with her, because when he called, no one was answering the phone, and he wanted to know if she was all right or if she was in trouble.”

4 Crowder initially was charged with murder but entered into an agreement to testify in return for which she would plead guilty to being an accessory and sentenced to a year in the county jail. 5 In her direct examination of Crowder, the prosecutor forgot to elicit the exact date. Other trial evidence clarified it was the night of August 29 to August 30, 2008.

3. At some point before they left, Dasheme asked, “Why did she call me and tell me this? What did she think I was going to do?” During the drive to Modesto, Dasheme called defendant to tell her they were on the way. Crowder believed defendant told Dasheme things had worked out and it was just a gin night, because she heard Dasheme repeating that to someone. Crowder believed defendant knew Dasheme was coming, however, because Dasheme said he was not satisfied and was still going to come and check on defendant. During the drive, Crowder heard Dasheme say that defendant called because her husband was putting his hands on her. Dasheme said he wanted to know if defendant was all right or in trouble, because no one answered the phone when he called. 6 Dasheme tried, unsuccessfully, to get Alfred Newton to physically check on defendant. Crowder believed Newton told Dasheme that he had spoken to defendant, and she was okay.7 Dasheme also got a called from Robert Barnes, saying everything was okay. Dasheme talked to Deleon and said Johnson had hit defendant, and Dasheme was going to go check on her.

6 During the trip, defendant called Crowder’s cell phone. Crowder missed the call. Crowder considered Johnson a nice person. She could not recall ever hearing him raise his voice. She had seen defendant and Johnson argue, however. Defendant sometimes threatened to hit Johnson or said her sons would take care of him instead of her fighting. Crowder never saw Johnson strike defendant. 7 Newton, who was in Stockton on the night in question, spoke to defendant sometime around 1:00 a.m. Defendant was crying and said she and Johnson had had a dispute. Because Newton made it a habit not to get involved in domestic matters, the conversation pretty much ended. Newton then called back and spoke with Johnson. Johnson explained he never put his hands on defendant, although he had to push her off of him. He said they were a little tipsy, and she was just mad and being overdramatic and turning over some furniture. Defendant later called Newton back to admit Johnson had not really “jump[ed] on her or anything like that,” but they had been fighting, and she had been scared. Newton advised her to call Dasheme, because Dasheme thought Johnson “jumped on” defendant. Later, Newton called Dasheme to tell him he had spoken to defendant, but Dasheme never answered the phone.

4. During the drive to Modesto, Crowder saw Dasheme holding a silver gun she had seen in his possession on prior occasions. She heard clicking noises and also saw him spinning the gun’s cylinder. Crowder was worried the gun might go off in the car. She was also concerned Dasheme might shoot Johnson, so she began to pray.

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People v. Harris CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-harris-ca5-calctapp-2022.