People v. Lewis CA4/1

California Court of Appeal·Decided March 20, 2015·No. D066868·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 3/20/15 P. v. Lewis CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D066868 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. FV11000504)

WILLIAM EDWARD LEWIS II, Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, Eric M. Nakata, Judge. Affirmed with directions.

David L. Polsky, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Arlene A. Sevidal and Elizabeth M. Carino, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

I.

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted William Edward Lewis II of one count of first degree murder (count 1) and one count of second degree murder (count 2) (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)).1 The murder victims were Lewis's girlfriend, Angelina Goffredo, and her fetus. The jury also convicted Lewis of two counts of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)) (counts 3 and 5). As to the murder counts, the jury found true allegations that Lewis personally discharged a firearm, causing death, within the meaning of section 12022.53, subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), and that he was convicted of more than one count of murder in a single proceeding, within the meaning of section 190.2, subdivision (a)(3). As to the counts of assault with a firearm, the jury found true allegations that Lewis personally used a firearm within the meaning of section 12022.5, subdivisions (a) and (d). The court sentenced Lewis to life without the possibility of parole plus an indeterminate term of 65 years, consisting of 15 years to life on the second degree murder count and a firearm enhancement of 25 years to life for each of the two murder counts. The court also sentenced Lewis to a determinate term of 18 years four months on the two assault counts and related firearm enhancements.

Lewis contends that (1) there was insufficient evidence that he acted willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation to support his conviction of first degree murder on

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.

count 1; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of assault with a firearm on count 3; (3) the trial court prejudicially erred by incorrectly instructing the jury on the definitions of express and implied malice with respect to first and second degree murder; and (4) the sentencing minute order and abstract of judgment incorrectly state that his credit for time served of 1,008 days includes conduct credit of 127 days. The People concede that at sentencing, the court awarded 1,008 days of presentence custody credit and did not award any conduct credit. We will direct the court to correct the sentencing minute order and abstract of judgment to reflect its oral pronouncement of presentence credit for time served. We otherwise affirm the judgment.

II.

FACTS

Assault on Angelina Goffredo (count 3)

In December 2009, Lewis and Goffredo lived together in a house on Duncan Road in Phelan. On December 24, they moved into a house on Smith Road that Lewis's close friend, Amanda Quinn, was renting. At some point in December before the 24th, Lewis telephoned Quinn and told her that he and Goffredo had been arguing. Lewis sounded upset and Quinn heard Goffredo yelling at him in the background. Quinn became concerned and went to Lewis and Goffredo's house with her one of her roommates.

When Quinn and her roommate arrived at the house, the front door was unlocked.

They entered the house and went to Lewis and Goffredo's bedroom. The bedroom door was closed but Quinn heard Lewis and Goffredo speaking in the bedroom. Quinn

testified that she may have told police that Lewis and Goffredo were arguing, and also may have told police that she heard Goffredo say, "Don't point that gun at me." She thought that she "heard a gun being cocked back." She became worried and told Lewis that she was going to kick the door down. Lewis told Quinn not to come into the bedroom and to mind her own business or he would "shoot at" her.2 Quinn eventually calmed down Lewis and then left the house to get her daughter. When she returned later that day, Lewis was out of the bedroom.

Assault on Amanda Quinn (count 5)

After Lewis and Goffredo moved into the house that Quinn rented, they frequently argued and fought. One of their roommates, Kayla Sudeta, testified that she witnessed an argument between Lewis and Goffredo during which Lewis pointed a gun at Goffredo and told her that "she needed to tell [someone] that they weren't together or he was going to shoot her." On another occasion, Sudeta heard Lewis slap Goffredo while they were arguing in the hallway. Goffredo ran out of the hallway and said that Lewis was a woman beater and she was going to call the police. Sudeta asked Goffredo not to call the police because she "thought [she (Sudeta)] had a warrant" and would go to jail if the police came.

Quinn was worried about Lewis's possession of guns because of the fighting between him and Goffredo and because there were children in the house. There were

2 On redirect examination, Quinn said that she heard Lewis say, "Get away from the door," but did not hear him say, "or I'll shoot," because she had walked away from the door.

also drugs in the house, and she was afraid that the police were going to come. She testified that everyone who lived at the house, including her, used methamphetamine and that she moved out of the house in February 2010 because "nobody was getting along in the house because of the drugs, and I couldn't take it anymore."

On the weekend of January 23, 2010, there was a party for Goffredo's 21st birthday at the house. During the party, Lewis and Goffredo went into their bedroom and got into an argument. Sudeta, Quinn, and other people attending the party gathered outside the bedroom door and Quinn knocked on the door. From inside the bedroom Lewis said, "Get away from the door or I'll shoot." A shot was then fired through the door but no one was hit. Sudeta testified that she, Quinn, and another party guest were standing by the door when the shot was fired.

First and second degree murder (counts 1 and 2)

Lewis's friend, Matthew Blaylock, testified that at the time Goffredo was shot and killed, he was in a trailer, which he called his "shop," in the backyard of the Smith Road residence. That morning, he and Lewis had gone together to a McDonalds and an auto parts store. When they returned to the residence, Blaylock went to the shop to read an installation guide for an oil pressure gauge and Lewis went into the house. Within an hour, Lewis entered the shop and told Blaylock that he had accidentally shot Goffredo. Blaylock ran into the house and Lewis followed him. Blaylock stepped into the doorway of Lewis and Goffredo's bedroom and saw Goffredo lying on the bed. He immediately turned around and went back outside and Lewis followed him. After the two men talked

"for a brief second," Lewis called 911 and reported that he had shot his girlfriend in the face. Blaylock estimated that about two and a half minutes passed from the time Lewis came into the shop to tell him about the shooting and the time Lewis called 911.

Police and paramedics from the fire department arrived at the scene and found Goffredo lying on her back in a pool of blood on the floor of her bedroom. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A handgun was on the floor next to her body, and there was a bullet in her hair at the point of the exit wound. Bloodstains on the bed and floor showed that Goffredo was lying on the bed when she was shot and was then moved to the floor.

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