People v. Love CA4/1

California Court of Appeal·Decided March 3, 2016·No. D069447·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 3/3/16 P. v. Love CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D069447 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. FVI1301553)

TYRUS FORD LOVE, Defendant and Appellant.

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

Michael B. McPartland, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Kristin A. Gutierrez Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury convicted Tyrus F. Love of attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 647, 187, subd. (a)1; count 1) and assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2); count 2). As to count 1, the jury found Love (1) personally inflicted great bodily injury under section 12022.7, subdivision (a); (2) personally and intentionally discharged a handgun causing great bodily injury under section 12022.53, subdivisions (b) through (d); and (3) committed the offense for the benefit of a criminal street gang in violation of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1)(C). As to count 2, the jury found Love (1) personally used a handgun under section 12022.5, subdivisions (a) and (d); (2) personally inflicted great bodily injury under section 12022.55; and (3) committed the offense for the benefit of a criminal street gang in violation of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1)(C). The trial court found Love had two prior strike convictions and sentenced Love to a total prison term of 70 years to life.

On appeal, Love asserts the court erred by (1) admitting into evidence statements he made to a jail intake officer concerning his gang affiliation and (2) failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of attempted voluntary manslaughter based on a theory of unreasonable self-defense. Love also contends insufficient evidence supported the gang enhancements to his sentence and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to request the trial court dismiss one of his prior strike convictions. Finally, Love contends, and the Attorney General concedes, the abstract of judgment should be corrected to reflect the actual sentence imposed. We conclude counsel was ineffective in failing to request that the court strike one of Love's strike 1 Statutory references are to the Penal Code.

priors and, therefore, vacate Love's sentence and remand with directions to hold a new sentencing hearing. The judgment is otherwise affirmed.

BACKGROUND

A. Evidence of the Underlying Offense On the evening of April 30, 2013, Love and his friends Reginald Malone and Elnora Jamison, who had all known each other for many years, were hanging out at the apartment complex where Love and Malone lived. Around dinner time, Jamison told Malone they needed to get food for their children, who were at home at Jamison's apartment in another nearby apartment complex. Neither Jamison nor Malone had a car, so Love agreed to drive them to a nearby pizza place. Malone rode in the front passenger seat and Jamison rode in the back. When they got to the restaurant, Jamison went inside to pick up the pizza, returned to the car, and Love drove them to Jamison's apartment.

Love pulled into the apartment complex and stopped in front of Jamison's first floor apartment. Jamison got out of the car with the pizza and went into her apartment. Corey Donald and two other men were sitting nearby, at the top of a staircase leading to Donald's second-story apartment above Jamison's apartment. Donald testified that after Jamison got out of Love's car, he heard someone from the car make disrespectful statements to him and his companions.2 Donald testified he heard one of the men yell out "bitch ass, nigga, fuck boy," "bitch made," or "punk ass mark."

2 Donald could not be located for trial and the court found he was unavailable to testify. As a result, his preliminary hearing testimony was read for the jury.

Donald and the two other men responded by walking down the stairs towards Love's car. As Donald walked down the stairs, Love drove away from him towards the street, and then reversed back toward Donald. Donald and his friends reached the parking lot and seconds later Donald saw gunfire come from the driver's side window of Love's car. Donald and other witnesses heard five or six gunshots fired. Donald and his two companions turned and ran back up the stairs. Before Donald reached the staircase he was shot in the buttocks. Donald testified that he did not see the individual that fired the shots or the passenger in the car, but he was able to indentify Love's car.

Malone also gave an account of the incident. He testified there were seven or more young males hanging out at the top of the staircase with Donald. Malone saw the men pointing at the car he was in with Love and testified that it "looked like they had a problem." Malone stated that after Love turned the car around to pull out of the apartment complex, three or four of the men came running down the stairs toward the car. Malone testified that as Donald ran down the staircase Donald said "What the hell are you looking at, Cuz."

As Donald and his companions moved toward the car, Malone recalled Love saying "these niggas running up on the car." Malone testified "it was a scared moment. . . . they were running up on the car to come after us." Malone said he looked over at Love and saw him shooting backwards and over his shoulder out of the window as he drove out of the parking lot. Malone then saw Love put the gun down on the floor of the car as Love drove back to their apartment complex. Malone stated he was angry with Love for shooting towards the apartment where his children were. As a result, the

two men got into an altercation that was witnessed by other residents. The men eventually separated back to their own apartments. The following morning Malone went back to Jamison's apartment and spoke with Donald's girlfriend. Malone told her he was not involved in the incident and did not want any part of retaliation. Malone testified he knew Donald to be a gang member. B. Gang Evidence Jamison testified that she knew Love to be a gang member and that he had a "high rep" for being "hard in the streets." Rialto Police Officer Gregory Marquez and San Bernardino County Sherriff's Department Deputy Eric Stoll testified as gang experts. Both officers testified Love was a member of a small Rialto gang known as Noe Luv. The officers identified Love as a member of the gang based on his extensive array of gang-related tattoos.3 Noe Luv has 25-30 active members and, according to Marquez, is known to be hostile to all other area gangs. Stoll also testified Noe Luv is a notoriously violent gang and its members are known as willing to confront anyone that challenges them, regardless of whether the challenger is a gang member. Marquez gave details about four prior offenses for which other Noe Luv members had been convicted.

With respect to Love's alleged crime, Marquez testified that Love's statement that Donald was a "mark" meant that Donald was marked for a bullet and that Love was telling Donald that he was "going to get shot." Marquez testified the statement was "a

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