People v. Lal CA6

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 6, 2015
DocketH039704
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Lal CA6 (People v. Lal CA6) 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. Lal CA6, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 1/6/15 P. v. Lal CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H039704 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. Nos. C1110645, C1229931)

v.

ASHISH KUMAR LAL,

Defendant and Appellant.

I. INTRODUCTION In case No. C1110645, defendant Ashish Kumar Lal was convicted after jury trial on March 20, 2013, of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 211, 212.5, subd. (c)).1 The jury found true the allegation that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a stick, during the commission of the robbery (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). The trial court found true the allegations that defendant had a prior serious felony conviction and a prior strike (§§ 667, subds. (a), (b)-(i), 1170.12), and that he had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (a)). In case No. C1229931, defendant pleaded no contest on March 21, 2013, to driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more causing injury (Veh. Code, § 23153, subd. (b)). Defendant also admitted that he personally inflicted great bodily

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. injury on the victim (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)), that he was out of custody on bail at the time (§ 12022.1), that he suffered a prior strike (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12), and that he had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The trial court sentenced defendant in both cases to a total prison term of 16 years four months. On appeal, defendant does not raise any issues in the Vehicle Code case (No. C1229931). In the robbery case (No. C1110645), defendant contends that (1) the trial court erred in admitting testimony regarding two photograph identifications by the police, (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct in argument to the jury, (3) the court erred by failing to instruct the jury to view defendant’s out-of-court statements with caution pursuant to CALCRIM No. 358 and by failing to give a corpus delicti instruction pursuant to CALCRIM No. 359, (4) the court erred by instructing the jury that it could use evidence of defendant’s flight to show his consciousness of guilt (CALCRIM No. 372), (5) the court erred by giving flawed instructions on reasonable doubt and the evidence, (6) the cumulative effect of the errors requires reversal, and (7) a clerical error in the abstract of judgment should be corrected. For reasons that we will explain, we will affirm the judgment but order the clerical error in the abstract of judgment corrected. II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. The Information (No. C1110645) Defendant was charged by information with second degree robbery (§§ 211, 212.5, subd. (c)). The information further alleged that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a stick, during the commission of the offense (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), that he had a prior serious felony conviction and a prior strike (§§ 667, subds. (a), (b)-(i), 1170.12), and that he had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (a)). The court granted defendant’s request to bifurcate trial on the prior allegations, and defendant waived his right to a jury trial on the prior allegations.

2 B. The Prosecution’s Case 1. The robbery A liquor store owned by a husband and wife was robbed on the morning of March 6, 2010. The couple had purchased the store in 2009, and ultimately sold the store in December 2010. The wife, Kamal Chauhan, testified that on the morning of the robbery, she opened the store about 9:00 a.m. She was working by herself, and there were not a lot of people coming into the store. Around 10:30 a.m., a man came into the store and asked if Chauhan sold glass pipes. Chauhan testified that the man also picked up a package about the size of ChapStick or Binaca package and then put it back. He remained in the store briefly before leaving. About half an hour later, Chauhan went outside and saw the same man approach the store. She followed him into the store. The man stated that he forgot cigarettes. Chauhan went behind the counter where the cigarettes were located. The man “roam[ed]” around the store and then asked for a particular type of Snapple. Chauhan went to look for it but could not find it. As Chauhan walked behind the counter again, the man followed her. As soon as she turned around, she saw the man holding up a “sturdy” stick about two to three feet long and “maybe double” the thickness of a broomstick. He stated that he would not hurt her and asked her to open the register. Chauhan was scared. She complied, and the man took all the bills out of the register. Chauhan testified that the amount taken could have been up to $1,000. The man subsequently walked out of the store, crossed the parking lot, and jumped over a fence. Chauhan pressed a panic button to notify the police and went next door to call 911. As the call was being made, Chauhan could still see the man crossing the parking lot. 2. The investigation by the police The police arrived at the liquor store within 10 minutes of Chauhan’s call. The police asked Chauhan whether the man had touched anything. San Jose Police Officers

3 Michelle Hinch and Brad Quick, who were dispatched to the scene, testified that Chauhan pointed to a package of Binaca. Officer Quick lifted fingerprints from it. Kimberly Smith, a senior latent fingerprint examiner for the San Jose Police Department, examined the fingerprint. She also testified at trial as an expert in fingerprint comparison. Smith considered one fingerprint obtained by Officer Quick to be a “very good quality latent print.” Smith compared the latent print with fingerprints in a law enforcement computer system. After receiving a possible match through the computer system with defendant’s fingerprint, Smith conducted a manual comparison of the latent print with defendant’s exemplar fingerprint, which was from a fingerprint card maintained in a law enforcement database. Smith matched 16 points of identification on the latent print with the exemplar and determined that the overall quality of agreement between the points of identification was “excellent.” Smith concluded that the latent print, which was taken by Officer Quick, was from the same person as the exemplar print, which was from a fingerprint card for defendant. Subsequent to this identification, Smith compared the exemplar prints with prints from another fingerprint card of defendant’s and determined that the prints belonged to the same person. The police collected surveillance video from the liquor store. Surveillance video from two cameras located in different locations of the store was shown at trial. Stills from the surveillance video were also introduced into evidence. Chauhan testified that the two people in the video were her and the robber. The video and stills reflect the events that occurred during the second time the robber entered the store. In the video and stills, the robber is wearing a white hooded sweatshirt with the hood over his head. The robber’s sweatshirt is completely open in the front and reveals that he is wearing a black T-shirt underneath with a white design in the center of the chest. The video shows the robber moving about the store and eventually behind the counter where Chauhan is located. At that point, the robber is holding a stick in front of him and is within arms- length of Chauhan just before he takes money out of the register.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Stansbury v. California
511 U.S. 318 (Supreme Court, 1994)
People v. Tully
282 P.3d 173 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Padilla
906 P.2d 388 (California Supreme Court, 1995)
People v. Smithey
978 P.2d 1171 (California Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Arias
913 P.2d 980 (California Supreme Court, 1996)
People v. Price
821 P.2d 610 (California Supreme Court, 1991)
People v. Mason
802 P.2d 950 (California Supreme Court, 1991)
People v. Stansbury
846 P.2d 756 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Bemis
202 P.2d 82 (California Supreme Court, 1949)
People v. Watson
299 P.2d 243 (California Supreme Court, 1956)
Stork v. State
559 P.2d 99 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1977)
People v. Henry
22 Cal. App. 3d 951 (California Court of Appeal, 1972)
People v. Ingle
178 Cal. App. 3d 505 (California Court of Appeal, 1986)
People v. Lopez
47 Cal. App. 3d 8 (California Court of Appeal, 1975)
People v. Pitts
223 Cal. App. 3d 606 (California Court of Appeal, 1990)
People v. Flores
63 Cal. Rptr. 3d 694 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
People v. Westbrooks
61 Cal. Rptr. 3d 138 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
People v. Williams
170 Cal. App. 4th 587 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Lal CA6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lal-ca6-calctapp-2015.