People v. Jackson CA2/8

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 21, 2016
DocketB259024
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Jackson CA2/8 (People v. Jackson 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. Jackson CA2/8, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 3/21/16 P. v. Jackson CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B259024

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TA063472) v.

MICHAEL JACKSON,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Allen Joseph Webster, Jr., Judge. Affirmed in part, reversed in part with directions. Marilee Marshall, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Steve D. Matthews and Russell A. Lehman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_______________________ Michael Jackson appeals from his conviction on two counts each of armed robbery and false imprisonment, contending that the trial court erred by imposing a sentence greater than the one imposed before his successful appeal based on racially discriminatory jury selection practices by the prosecutor. We agree that the trial court erred and will order that the previous sentence be reinstated. We reject Jackson’s contentions that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of a similar prior conviction or by allowing the jury to hear the previous trial testimony of two witnesses who the trial court found were unavailable for the latest trial.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY1

Through four previous trials the essential facts have remained unchanged. At around 1:00 a.m. on June 19, 2001, Michael Jackson and an accomplice stole a truck trailer containing around $30,000 in merchandise from Universal Warehouse in Carson after pointing a gun at security guards Jose Barrera and Luni Tolai and then locking them in the trunk of Barrera’s car. Jackson drove up to the guard shack in a truck tractor posing as a driver who was there to pick up a trailer and, after entering the shack on the pretext of looking for his paperwork, initiated the robbery. The first trial ended with Jackson’s conviction on two counts each of armed robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) and false imprisonment (Pen. Code, § 236) and a state prison sentence of 133 years.2 We reversed the judgment in that case because the trial court erred by allowing evidence that Jackson took part in seven uncharged warehouse robberies in the 1980’s and 1990’s. (People v. Jackson (Sept. 29, 2003, B160746 [nonpub. opn.] (Jackson I).) In 2004, a retrial ended with a mistrial and yet another retrial. At the first and second retrials Jesus Herrera testified that he was a security guard at the Universal

1 Our statement of facts is based in part on our three previous decisions in this matter, which we describe below.

2 All further undesignated section references are to the Penal Code.

2 Warehouse in 1994 when Jackson and another man robbed them at gunpoint. The second retrial ended with another conviction on all four counts and a state prison sentence of 69 years. Jackson appealed again. We rejected his contention that the prosecutor violated People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 (Wheeler) by rejecting prospective African-American jurors based on their race. However, we concluded that the trial court should have stayed both false imprisonment sentences under section 654. We declined to remand for resentencing because the prosecutor had waived the issue by not objecting to the trial court’s lawful discretionary decision to run the two robbery sentences concurrently. As a result, we reduced Jackson’s sentence to a combined total of 40 years to life by ordering that the combined 29 year sentence for false imprisonment be stayed. (People v. Jackson (Dec. 27, 2005, B177201) [nonpub. opn.] (Jackson II).) In Jackson II, we rejected Jackson’s claim of Wheeler error by relying on the then- current state of California law that did not permit a comparative analysis of the prospective jurors for the first time on appeal. That rule changed in 2008 when our Supreme Court decided People v. Lenix (2008) 44 Cal.4th 602. Jackson later filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court contending that we had misapplied federal law. The district court agreed and ordered that Jackson be released within 90 days unless we heard Jackson’s comparative juror analysis argument within that time frame. After hearing Jackson’s argument, we reversed the judgment for Wheeler error and remanded for further proceedings. (People v. Jackson (June 13, 2013, B177201) [nonpub. opn.] (Jackson III).) At the third retrial (fourth trial) the jury again convicted Jackson on two counts each of armed robbery and false imprisonment. The trial court imposed a state prison sentence of 75 years, in part by running the two robbery sentences consecutively while staying the sentences on the two false imprisonment counts.3 Jackson appeals,

3 From the trial court’s statements and the abstract of judgment, the sentence appears to have been calculated as follows: On each of counts 1 and 2, for the robberies of Tolai and Barrera, indeterminate terms of 25 years to life pursuant to the Three Strikes law (§§ 211; 1170.12(a)-(d), 667(b)–(i)), plus an additional and consecutive term of 10

3 contending the trial court violated the double jeopardy principles of our state’s Constitution by imposing a higher sentence than he received as a result of the previous trial. He also contends that the trial court erred by allowing evidence that he committed an armed robbery of the same warehouse in 1994, and by allowing the jury to hear the earlier trial testimony of Tolai, his 2001 robbery victim, and Jesus Herrera, the victim of his 1994 robbery, after finding that those witnesses were not available.

DISCUSSION

1. The Trial Court Properly Found That Herrera and Tolai Were Unavailable

1.1 Applicable Law

Jesus Herrera testified at Jackson’s first and second 2004 retrials that he worked at the Universal Warehouse as a security guard in October 1994 when Jackson and another man detained him and two other guards at gunpoint, tied their hands, duct taped their mouths, and then robbed the warehouse. Luna Tolai had testified at all three previous trials and had identified Jackson as the 2001 robber each time. When the prosecutor was unable to secure the attendance of either witness at the third retrial, the trial court found that the witnesses were unavailable because the prosecutor had exercised due diligence in attempting to secure their attendance, and allowed the jury to hear their previous trial testimony. Jackson contends the trial court erred. Although a defendant has the constitutional right to confront the witnesses against him (U.S. Const., 6th Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 15), a witness’s previous trial

years for the firearm enhancement pursuant to section 12022.53(b). Counts 1 and 2 were ordered to run consecutive to one another. On each of counts 3 and 4, for the false imprisonment of Tolai and Barrera, indeterminate terms of 25 years to life pursuant to the Three Strike law (§§ 236; 1170.12(a)-(d), 667(b)-(i)), plus an additional 4-year term for firearm use enhancements pursuant to section 12022.5(a)(1). Counts 3 and 4 were ordered to run concurrent to all other terms. Though each of these counts were indeterminate terms, the trial court added only one five-year prior to the entire term, in violation of People v. Williams (2004) 34 Cal.4th 397, 403-405. We address sentencing in Part 3 of our Discussion.

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People v. Jackson CA2/8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-jackson-ca28-calctapp-2016.