People v. Learnard

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 2016
DocketB260824
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Learnard (People v. Learnard) 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. Learnard, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 10/28/16 CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION*

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, B260824

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YA088533) v.

CHADWICK VERNON LEARNARD,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Alan B. Honeycutt, Judge. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with directions. Heather L. Beugen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

* Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1100 and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of the Factual Background and part I of the Discussion, pages 3– 12. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Victoria B. Wilson, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Viet H. Nguyen, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_________________________________

Chadwick Vernon Learnard appeals from the judgment entered following a jury trial in which he was convicted of one count of assault with a deadly weapon (Pen. Code,1 § 245, subd. (a)(1), count 1) and one count of simple battery2 (§ 242, count 5). The trial court found that appellant had suffered two prior qualifying convictions under the “Three Strikes” law (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)–(d)), two prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)), and two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The court sentenced appellant to an aggregate term of 35 years to life in state prison.3

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 The jury was unable to reach a verdict on count 2, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. (§ 245, subd. (a)(4).) The court found the jury was deadlocked and declared a mistrial as to that count. 3 The sentence consisted of an indeterminate term of 25 years to life on count 1, plus two five-year enhancements for the two prior serious felony convictions. (§§ 667, subds. (a), (e)(2).) On count 5, the court sentenced appellant to 180 days in county jail with credit for time served.

2 We reverse the trial court’s determination that appellant’s 2002 conviction for aggravated assault constituted a serious felony conviction and hence a strike based on the court’s reliance on judicial fact-finding beyond the elements of the prior conviction itself. Given that none of the documents in the record of the prior conviction distinguished between assault with a deadly weapon and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, the trial court’s determination that the prior conviction constituted a serious felony is unsupported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, we remand the matter for resentencing. In all other respects, we affirm. FACTUAL BACKGROUND* On October 1, 2013, about 3:00 p.m., Luisina Hare and her husband, Charles, drove to the Fantastic Cafe in Lomita to pick up lunch. Their six-month-old son was in the backseat of the car. As the Hares pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, they saw their friend Kari Lightfoot driving with her six-year-old son in the car. Luisina parked near the back door of the restaurant, and Lightfoot parked nearby leaving an empty parking space between the two vehicles. Sitting in their vehicles with the windows rolled down, the Hares chatted briefly with Lightfoot. Charles got out of the car, and as he walked toward the restaurant, appellant emerged from the restaurant carrying a skateboard. Appellant yelled several times at Charles, “ ‘I heard you were talking shit.’ ” Charles looked up and saw appellant approaching rapidly. Holding the skateboard at shoulder height

* See footnote, ante, page 1.

3 by its “trucks,”4 appellant struck a forceful blow to Charles’s face with the end of the skateboard. Charles was able to turn his head so that the skateboard struck his left cheek and the outer part of his eye. The force of the blow knocked him into the front of his car and he fell to the ground. As appellant continued his attack, Charles curled up and covered his head with his arms. Luisina got out of her car and tried to stop the assault on her husband by jumping on appellant’s shoulder and throwing her arm around him. But appellant grabbed her face and shoved her to the ground, ripping off her shirt. While Luisina was on the ground appellant hit her a couple of times on her back with a heavy object or his hand. Charles stood up and started punching appellant’s head and body. Appellant fought back, and the two men traded blows. Luisina went to the driver’s side of the car and tried to pop open the trunk to get something she could use to stop the fight. Appellant made a move toward the driver’s side of the Hares’ vehicle, and Charles put his hand on his pocket knife in case he needed to use it. At this point, appellant said, “Oh, oh, what, you got a gun?” He took a few steps backward, then turned and walked away with the skateboard. Luisina called 911 and handed the phone to Charles, who reported the incident. Charles declined medical attention, telling the operator he only had a scratch on his face and was fine. But Charles actually suffered several minor injuries from the attack, including abrasions on both corners of his left eye, a cut on the bridge of his nose, a cut lip, a scratch on his back, and abrasions

4 The “trucks” of a skateboard are like a car’s axle: attached to the bottom of the skateboard, they hold the wheels in place.

4 on his upper chest, left knee, and left forearm. Luisina had an abrasion on her right knee, as well as bruises on her upper back, above her left eyebrow, and on her left arm and shoulder. None of Luisina’s injuries was serious enough to require medical attention. Shortly after the incident, sheriff’s deputies found appellant in a nearby Laundromat hiding under a table and took him into custody. As Deputies Thomas Phillips and Stephen Capra were escorting appellant to their patrol car, Capra noticed a skateboard that was propped against a traffic barrier in front of the Laundromat. Aware that the victims had reported a skateboard being used in the attack, Capra picked it up, and appellant said, “ ‘Don’t fucking lose my skateboard.’ ” In the backseat of the patrol car, appellant became angry about being detained and started yelling profanities at the officers. Appellant was sweating profusely and turning red, and demanded to know why he was “getting in trouble for socking . . . up . . . a drug dealer.” Claiming he was simply protecting his neighborhood, appellant declared, “ ‘Those people are dirty. They were selling drugs.’ ” Appellant called Capra a “ ‘beaner,’ ” a “ ‘punk-ass bitch,’ ” and a “ ‘child molester.’ ” Phillips described appellant’s demeanor in the patrol car as “pretty amped up, belligerent.” Appellant spat at Capra, hitting the Plexiglas shield between the front and rear seats of the patrol car. At the station, appellant was placed in the booking cell, and his demeanor became increasingly erratic. He alternated between extreme anger and agitation to becoming emotional and slumping against the wall crying. He paced the cell, frequently punching his hand with his fist and slapping his hands against the walls and the glass door of the cell. He removed his shirt and

5 threw it on the floor. After filling out some paperwork, he threw the pen against the wall so forcefully that the pen broke. He ranted and raved, repeatedly yelling, “Why am I in trouble for socking this guy up, protecting my neighborhood?” DISCUSSION I. Admission of evidence of appellant’s postarrest conduct and demeanor Appellant contends the trial court abused its discretion in admitting irrelevant and unduly prejudicial evidence of his postarrest conduct and demeanor.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Learnard, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-learnard-calctapp-2016.