People v. Harvey CA2/8

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 25, 2014
DocketB245606
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Harvey CA2/8 (People v. Harvey CA2/8) 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. Harvey CA2/8, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 4/25/14 P. v. Harvey CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B245606

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA384162) v.

HAROLD E. HARVEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Robert C. Vanderet, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Stephen M. Hinkle, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews and J. Michael Lehmann, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

__________________________ Defendant Harold E. Harvey appeals from his conviction of three counts of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) and grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (a)).1 He contends: (1) the trial court incorrectly instructed the jury; and (2) admission of certain evidence was prejudicial error.2 We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. C.L. Robbery (Count 1)

Viewed in accordance with the usual rules on appeal (People v. Zamudio (2008) 43 Cal.4th 327, 357-358), the evidence established that in April 2011, sisters P.L. and C.L. lived with their family a few blocks from Veronica’s Mini Market, located on Vermont Avenue and 49th Street. The evening of April 30, the sisters walked to the market, where C.L. noticed defendant inside the store. They were walking home at about 7:30 p.m. when defendant suddenly came from C.L.’s right side, stood in front of her and demanded she give him the gold necklace she was wearing. C.L. refused until she realized that defendant was pressing a black gun against her stomach. Before C.L. could remove the necklace, defendant yanked it off her neck and walked away. When they thought defendant could no longer see them, the sisters ran home where they encountered their father and uncle. As soon as the sisters told them what had

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Defendant was charged in case No. BA384162 with second degree robbery. On September 13, 2011, a mistrial was declared after the jury announced that it could not reach a unanimous verdict. Case No. BA384162 was joined with case No. BA387579 and an amended information was filed charging defendant with three counts of second degree robbery (counts 1, 2 and 3) and grand theft (count 4); enhancements for personal gun use (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)) and committing a felony while released on bail (§ 12022.1) were also alleged. A jury found defendant guilty on all four counts and found true the gun use enhancement as to count 1 and the released on bail enhancement as to counts 2, 3 and 4. Defendant was sentenced to a total of 17 years, 8 months in prison. He timely appealed.

2 Defendant also contends, and the People concede, that he is entitled to additional presentence custody and conduct credit. We modify the judgment accordingly.

2 happened and described defendant, father and uncle left in uncle’s car. When police arrived a few minutes later, C.L and P.L. recounted the incident to them. P.L.’s recollection of events was consistent with C.L.’s in all material respects. P.L. saw defendant pull a black gun from his waistband, point it at C.L. and demand she give him her necklace. Defendant pulled the necklace off C.L.’s neck and walked away. Father testified that his daughters described the robber as an African-American male wearing blue pants and a white shirt. Father and uncle drove around the neighborhood looking for someone who matched that description. Within about five minutes, father saw defendant entering a house on the 900 block of 48th Street, around the corner from the market. It was later established that this was where defendant lived with his grandmother and brother. At about 8:30 that night, defendant sold a “yellow gold chain with a charm” to the Pico Union Pawn Shop for $185.3 On May 3, C.L. and P.L. identified defendant from a photographic lineup; their father recognized defendant as the person he saw entering the house on 48th Street. Defendant was arrested the next day, May 4. Police searching defendant’s home found, among other things, a hand gun and several broken gold necklaces in an unlocked cabinet drawer. Detectives showed C.L. and P.L. a photograph of that gun, which both girls identified as the gun defendant pointed at C.L. Neither of the necklaces was the one defendant took from C.L. Defendant’s grandmother testified that the police who searched her home after defendant was arrested found two rifles under her bed and a handgun in a drawer in which defendant kept his things. She knew about the rifles, which belonged to her deceased brother, but not about the handgun.

3 By the time the police contacted the pawn shop about the necklace in November 2011, the shop had already melted the necklace so it was impossible to determine with certainty that it was C.L.’s.

3 2. Kerima Brown Robbery (Count 2)

By June 28, 2011, defendant was out on bail. That day, while on a break from her job at the Washington Square Market, Kerima Brown was standing outside the store entrance and talking to her husband on a cell phone. When she noticed defendant staring at her, Brown backed up because she had a feeling he was about to take her gold necklace. Defendant grabbed the necklace and ran away, eluding a pursuing security guard. But Pedro Ivan Duran, who was pulling his car out of a parking lot, saw defendant struggle with Brown and followed him. Duran saw defendant get into a white car that drove away. Duran was able to get a partial license plate number, which he gave to Brown along with his contact information.4 Brown and Duran both identified defendant from a photographic lineup, but neither was positive about their identifications. A recording of the robbery taken by the market’s security cameras was played for the jury.

3. Rolando Vasquez Robbery (Count 3)

At about 4:00 p.m. on July 13, 2011, Rolando Vasquez was parked in front of his wife’s store on the 1700 block of West Jefferson Boulevard. Vasquez had accidentally locked himself out of his car and was trying to get into it with the assistance of Jacob Eradat, who owned the store next to Vasquez’s wife’s store. When Vasquez saw defendant approaching, he assumed defendant was going to offer to help. Instead, defendant grabbed the thick gold necklace Vasquez was wearing. With the necklace in his hand, defendant ran towards the parking lot of a nearby KFC Restaurant and a white car that was parked with its engine running. By the time defendant reached the white car, it was already accelerating. Vasquez and Eradat gave chase but defendant got into the front passenger seat of the white car just ahead of Vasquez. Vasquez heard a woman inside the car shouting. When Vasquez called 911, he described the robber and the white car, including a partial license plate number which Eradat had written down. Vasquez

4 Store manager Veronica Diaz, who watched the robbery occur on security camera monitors in the office, testified that Duran gave her his business card and a piece of paper on which he wrote a license plate number.

4 described the driver as an African-American man, but when he thought about it more, he concluded the driver was a woman because he heard a woman’s voice.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Harvey CA2/8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-harvey-ca28-calctapp-2014.