People v. Love CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 23, 2020
DocketC090411
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Love CA3 (People v. Love CA3) 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. Love CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 10/23/20 P. v. Love CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C090411

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 19FE003414)

v.

JOHNNY LOVE,

Defendant and Appellant.

After a jury found defendant Johnny Love guilty of making criminal threats and assault with a deadly weapon, and found true prior serious felony convictions, the trial court sentenced him to an aggregate term of 13 years in state prison. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) the trial court prejudicially erred in instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 875, that a box cutter could be an inherently deadly weapon; (2) trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to pursue pretrial mental health diversion, and we should remand for a determination of defendant’s eligibility for mental

1 health diversion; and (3) the trial court violated defendant’s due process rights by imposing various costs. The People argue the trial court’s error in instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 875 was harmless and disagree with defendant’s other two contentions. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On February 24, 2019, Shelly Gusman was working as a transit agent for Sacramento Regional Transit, conducting fare enforcement on light rail trains. As Gusman boarded the rear car of a two-car train, she saw someone run out of the rear car and onto the front car. Gusman thought the person was “probably a fare evader,” whom she would “meet[ ] up with [ ] at some point when” she switched train cars. A little later, Gusman boarded the front car, announcing “tickets or passes” as she entered. Defendant “jump[ed] up” and exited the car. Gusman “thought he was going to . . . leave,” but he didn’t. Instead, the man “tr[ied] to board” the rear car that Gusman had just left. “So [Gusman] poked [her] head out” of the train and said to defendant, “Don’t get on the train.” Defendant “turned around and threw his bags on the ground and said, ‘I’m tired of you mother F’ers.’ ” Defendant “pulled something from his band, his waist, and said . . . ‘I’m about to stab you, bitch’ and came charging at” Gusman. Defendant was “three to four feet” away from Gusman when the confrontation began, and held an object pointing forward in his right hand, his arm making a 90-degree angle. Gusman told defendant to “[s]tay back,” but defendant moved “towards” her, and Gusman “backpedal[led]” onto the train. Defendant continued moving towards Gusman, “climb[ed] up the stairs on the train,” and threatened to stab Gusman at least one more time when he was again inside the train.

2 Gusman “backpedalled to the next door, hit the button so [she] could get out, and . . . took off running.” Defendant followed Gusman out the door.1 Gusman “called it in” to the “security operations center” on her radio, saying she was “being chased by a guy with a knife,” whom she recognized as defendant. Defendant said, “You know what, bitch, I’m gonna put a hit on you.” A responding law enforcement officer detained defendant as he was walking out of the train station where the confrontation occurred, and—about 10 feet “from where [the officer] detained” defendant—found the weapon that defendant brandished at Gusman: a box cutter. Defendant testified that when Gusman told him “don’t get on that train,” he “got alarmed,” and “grabbed [his] box cutter,” because he “kn[e]w” transit agents “have tasers.” Defendant “flick[ed]” the box cutter to ensure “it was fully open,” held it “down” in his right hand, and “went onto the train to explain” to Gusman “where [he] was actually going and [his] reasons for . . . trying to get” there. When defendant heard Gusman exclaim that he was holding a “knife,” defendant’s “only words to her were, ‘this is not a knife, this is a box cutter.’ ” On cross-examination, defendant admitted that, after Gusman told him not to board the train, he said to her, “I’m tired of you guys fucking bothering me.” But defendant denied ever threatening to stab Gusman.

1 A transit officer who witnessed the incident testified that—after Gusman told defendant not to board the train—defendant “chased” Gusman back onto the train (i) while holding something in his hand, and (ii) holding his hand out in front of him, (iii) and threatened to “cut” Gusman “about three or four times.”

A surveillance video of the incident was played for the jury and admitted into evidence. The video is not in the record on appeal.

3 He agreed that, when the confrontation began, he was “four to five feet” away from Gusman, and insisted that Gusman scared and “chased” him (by following him off the train) before he brandished the box cutter. An August 5, 2019, an amended information charged defendant with criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422; count one)2 and assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); count two). The amended information also alleged defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon during the commission of the crimes (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and suffered prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subds. (a), (b)-(i)). After a trial that began on August 5, 2019, a jury found defendant guilty on both counts and found true the remaining allegations. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of 13 years, consisting of: assault with a deadly weapon, the upper term of four years in prison, doubled to eight years for a prior strike offense;3 criminal threats, the upper term of three years in prison, doubled to six years for a prior strike offense, but stayed pursuant to section 654; a five- year enhancement for a prior serious felony conviction; and a one-year enhancement, stayed, for personally using a deadly weapon while making the criminal threats. Regarding costs, defense counsel “ask[ed] the [c]ourt to strike all fines and fees due to [defendant’s] indigent status.” The trial court responded: “Well, some we have to impose, they’re mandatory, and then if he’s unable to pay, he’s entitled to a hearing. The minimum, though.” Defendant timely appealed.

2 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 3 The trial court granted the People’s motion to dismiss one of the prior strike offenses found true by the jury.

4 DISCUSSION I Defendant argues trial counsel should have requested a hearing to determine defendant’s “eligibility for mental health diversion” under section 1001.36. Counsel’s failure to do so “denied [defendant] the effective assistance of counsel,” defendant maintains.4 Specifically, defendant contends that in light of (i) his “bizarre” behavior “on the day of the offense,” (ii) “his trial testimony and his outbursts in court,” (iii) his forced removal at sentencing, (iv) his statements to a probation officer regarding his mental illness, prescription drug use, and substance abuse; and (v) “the contents of the psychiatric evaluation prepared under Penal Code section 1368,” he “should have been referred for mental health evaluation to determine his eligibility for mental health diversion.” The People argue trial counsel was not ineffective, because “there was little evidence that [defendant] suffered from a diagnosed mental health disorder that may qualify him for diversion,” and “there was no reasonable probability that a different outcome would have occurred,” even if trial counsel had pursued it. We conclude defendant has not demonstrated ineffective assistance of trial counsel in this direct appeal,5 as there is a satisfactory explanation for trial counsel’s failure to seek diversion under section 1001.36.

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People v. Love CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-love-ca3-calctapp-2020.