People v. James

55 Cal. Rptr. 3d 767, 148 Cal. App. 4th 446, 2007 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2567, 2007 Daily Journal DAR 3243, 2007 Cal. App. LEXIS 321
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 8, 2007
DocketB185745
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 55 Cal. Rptr. 3d 767 (People v. James) 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. James, 55 Cal. Rptr. 3d 767, 148 Cal. App. 4th 446, 2007 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2567, 2007 Daily Journal DAR 3243, 2007 Cal. App. LEXIS 321 (Cal. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

*449 Opinion

CROSKEY, J.

Defendant and appellant Gregory Wayne James, along with several associates, robbed the Bingo Club of more than $60,000 one Sunday morning before the Bingo Club had opened for business that day. Defendant and his associates gained entry to the Bingo Club by pointing a gun at the head of a maintenance worker who was outside, hosing down the parking lot. At gunpoint, the worker was forced to knock on the door and identify himself. When fellow employees opened the door for him, the robbers entered. The robbers forced all employees, including the maintenance worker, to lie on the floor, while they led the Bingo Club’s managers to the safes, where they obtained the money. Defendant was convicted of kidnapping for robbery with respect to the maintenance worker, and several counts of robbery. Defendant appeals his conviction, challenging only the count of kidnapping for robbery. Defendant contends the forced movement of the maintenance worker, at gunpoint, from outside the Bingo Club to its interior, is insufficient to establish the asportation element of aggravated kidnapping. We disagree and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On Sunday, December 15, 2002, defendant and several associates robbed the Bingo Club in Hawaiian Gardens. The Bingo Club’s money is stored in four different safes in the “cage” area. The Bingo Club always keeps $60,000 on hand in two of the safes. In a third safe, the Bingo Club stores its daily deposits before sending them to the bank in an armored car. The armored car did not pick up deposits on weekends, so the deposits from Friday and Saturday night would be. found in this safe on Sunday mornings.

The Bingo Club opened its doors for business at noon on Sundays. At 10:00 a.m., on December 15, 2002, the only people in the Bingo Club were office manager Michelle Hines, her six-year-old son, and several maintenance workers cleaning the inside and outside of thé establishment. One such employee was Jesus Gonzalez, who was outside cleaning the parking lot. 1 Gonzalez knocked on the door to the Bingo Club and said, “It’s me.” One of the other workers, Ignacio Barrera, recognized Gonzalez’s voice and opened the door to let him in. When Barrera opened the door, he saw another man standing behind Gonzalez, pointing at gun at Gonzalez’s back. The armed *450 man ordered Barrera to turn around and lie on the floor. The armed man and one of his associates entered the Bingo Club. The robbers threw Gonzalez to the floor with Barrera. Two other employees, Manuel Martinez and Mateo Gomez, were also either thrown down or ordered to lie down with them. At some point later in the robbery, one of the robbers opened the door to let in two more robbers.

Hines was inside the cage area of the Bingo Club, with her son outside. Defendant pushed Hines into the cage, grabbed her by the neck, put his gun to the back of her head, and asked her to open the safes. Hines only knew the combination for the safe containing the deposits. She opened the safé, revealing four deposit bags. After taking those bags, defendant asked Hines to open the other safes. Hines explained that she could not do so as she did not know the combination. Defendant called her a liar.

Defendant then asked how to turn off the security cameras inside the Bingo Club. Hines said that the main system was in the office, so defendant brought her to the office. Hines attempted to press buttons on the system to eject the videotape; she was unaware that the security cameras were digital and there was no tape. Hines eventually told defendant to just take the whole thing. Defendant then pulled Hines onto the ground, had her lie on her stomach, and sat on top of her. He cut open one of the deposit bags and yelled at Hines that he knew there was more money. Hines again explained that she did not know how to open the other safes. She offered to call her supervisor, A1 Lazar, who knew the combination. Defendant agreed, but told Hines to make sure she did not let Lazar know the robbers were present. Hines telephoned Lazar on his cellular phone. Lazar was already on his way to the Bingo Club, and said he would arrive in five minutes. Hines relayed this information to defendant. Defendant then brought Hines back out into the bingo hall.

While defendant was with Hines in the cage and office, one or more of the other robbers remained with the workers who were on the floor of the Bingo Club. The workers were ordered to close their eyes. The robbers reached into the workers’ pockets, removed money from their wallets, and replaced the wallets. 2 After lying on the floor for some time, the workers were moved and .told to lie on the floor in another location, which is where Hines and her son had been brought.

*451 Defendant then walked Hines to another section of the Bingo Club, where she and her son were permitted to sit. Some time later, Lazar arrived. Lazar opened the door to the Bingo Club and discovered an armed man, who said, “Let’s go to the safes.” Lazar complied. At the safes, Lazar and the armed men were met by another robber. Lazar was unable to open the safes because he could not enter the combination without his glasses. He therefore gave the combination to the armed robber and instructed him on how to open the safes, which contained $60,000. The robbers put the money in garbage bags and then brought Lazar out into the bingo hall.

At gunpoint, the robbers then marched Lazar, Hines, Hines’s son, Gonzalez, Barrera, Martinez and Gomez into a single-person bathroom. The robbers told the victims not to leave the bathroom for 10 minutes. About seven minutes later, the victims left the bathroom. The victims’ estimates for the length of the entire robbery varied, with Barrera testifying the workers had lain on the floor for more than an hour, while Gomez estimated only eight to 14 minutes.

The December 15, 2002 robbery was not the first robbery at the Bingo Club. On August 4, 2002, a similar robbery was committed by four robbers. As with the December 15, 2002 robbery, the August robbery took place on a Sunday at 10:00 a.m. In both robberies, the Bingo Club’s maintenance workers had' been ordered to lie on the floor, while one armed man ordered Lazar to open the safes. In the August 4, 2002 robbery, one of the robbers grabbed a female employee by her hair, and struck her with a gun. A male employee was also hit.

On July 7, 2003, defendant was charged by information with nine counts of robbery (Pen. Code,.§ 211), two counts of kidnapping for robbery (Pen. Code, § 209, subd. (b)(1)), and three counts of assault (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(2)) arising out of both robberies. Defendant entered a plea of not guilty and proceeded to jury trial. At the close of the prosecution’s case, the trial court granted defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal on four counts. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the counts pertaining to the August 4, 2002 robbery, and the trial court granted a mistrial. 3 As to the December 12, 2002 robbery, the jury found defendant guilty of kidnapping for robbery of Gonzalez, and five additional counts of robbery (victims Barrera, Gomez, Martinez, Hines and Lazar).

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Bluebook (online)
55 Cal. Rptr. 3d 767, 148 Cal. App. 4th 446, 2007 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2567, 2007 Daily Journal DAR 3243, 2007 Cal. App. LEXIS 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-james-calctapp-2007.