People v. McCabe CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 23, 2015
DocketC074110
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. McCabe CA3 (People v. McCabe 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. McCabe CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 6/23/15 P. v. McCabe CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (Tehama) ----

THE PEOPLE, C074110

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. NCR83744)

v.

RYAN SCOTT MCCABE,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Ryan Scott McCabe appeals his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He contends this conviction violates the Second Amendment. We disagree and shall affirm the conviction. Defendant also contends he is entitled to additional presentence custody credits. We remand the matter to the trial court for a factual determination of whether, and when, defendant was delivered into the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Defendant’s last contention is that the abstract of judgment requires correction to clearly indicate that the first abstract

1 of judgment issued in case No. NCR83093 is no longer in effect given the resentencing of defendant in case No. NCR83744. The People agree the abstract should be clarified. We will order the trial court to correct the abstract.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the afternoon of July 12, 2011, defendant shot Charles Shirer in the leg with a small semiautomatic pistol. At the time, defendant had a prior felony conviction. Just prior to the shooting, Stephanie Allen had seen defendant pull a small semiautomatic pistol partially out of his pocket and heard him say he was going to shoot Shirer.

An information charged defendant with assault with a semiautomatic firearm (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (b)),1 with an allegation he personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)), and possession of a firearm by a felon (former § 12021, subd. (a)(1)).2 The information also alleged defendant had a prior serious felony conviction (§§ 667, subd. (a)(1), 1170.12) and two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). A jury found defendant guilty of misdemeanor assault, as a lesser included offense, and guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In bifurcated proceedings, defendant admitted the prior serious felony conviction and prior prison term allegations.

The trial court sentenced defendant to the doubled upper term of six years for being a felon in possession of a firearm, plus two years for the prior prison terms, and a six-month concurrent term on the misdemeanor assault. In addition, he was resentenced on a prior case, case No. NCR83093, a conviction for felony evading an officer (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a)), to a consecutive 16-month term (one-third the midterm

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Former section 12021 was repealed operative January 1, 2012. The statutory prohibition against a felon possessing a firearm is now found in section 29800. (Stats. 2010, ch. 711, § 6, operative Jan. 1, 2012). For analysis of the issue raised by defendant, we will refer to the currently operative section 29800.

2 doubled). The trial court calculated defendant had 1,040 days of presentence credit (693 actual days and 347 conduct credit) under section 4019.

DISCUSSION

I. Second Amendment Claim

Relying on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) 554 U.S. 570 [171 L.Ed.2d 637] (Heller), defendant contends his possession of a firearm was protected by the Second Amendment, and therefore his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm violates the Second Amendment. He argues section 29800 violates the Second Amendment on its face. It does not.

“A facial challenge to the constitutional validity of a statute or ordinance considers only the text of the measure itself, not its application to the particular circumstances of an individual.” (Tobe v. City of Santa Ana (1995) 9 Cal.4th 1069, 1084) “If a statute is constitutional in its general and ordinary application, the statute is not facially unconstitutional merely because ‘there might be some instances in which application of the law might improperly impinge upon constitutional rights.’ (American Academy of Pediatrics v. Lungren (1997) 16 Cal.4th. 307, 347.)” (People v. Mitchell (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 1364, 1373.)

The Second Amendment provides: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” (U.S. Const., 2d Amend.)

In Heller, the high court evaluated the meaning of the Second Amendment, and concluded the constitutional right to possess firearms was not limited to possession for military use and included an individual’s right to possess firearms in the home for self- defense. (Heller, supra, 554 U.S. at pp. 571-574, 591, 634-636.) But the court stated, “[l]ike most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” (Id. at

3 p. 626 (maj. opn. of Scalia, J.).) The right does not extend to any sort of confrontation nor does it extend to any type of weapon. (Id. at pp. 595, 625-626.) Rather, it is a right to possess and carry weapons “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.” (Id. at p. 625.) The court specifically noted that “nothing in [its] opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places . . . .” (Id. at pp. 626-627.) The court further explicitly recognized “the problem of handgun violence in this country,” and confirmed that the “Constitution leaves . . . a variety of tools for combating that problem . . . .” (Id. at p. 636.)

In McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) 561 U.S. 742 [177 L.Ed.2d 894] (McDonald) the court held the Second Amendment right is applicable to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, but “ ‘repeat [ed] [its] assurances’ that ‘the right to keep and bear arms is not “a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose” ’ ” and reiterated “that its holding ‘did not cast doubt on such longstanding regulatory measures as “prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill . . . .” ’ (McDonald, supra, at p. 786, quoting Heller, supra, 554 U.S. at p. 626 [171 L.Ed.2d at p. 678].)” (People v. Jason K. (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 1545, 1555.)

Defendant attempts to minimize the impact of this language by dismissing it as dicta. As have other courts, we construe the Heller language not as dicta, but as a limitation on Heller’s holding that individuals have a right to possess weapons under the Second Amendment of the federal Constitution. (See, e.g., United States v. Huet (3d Cir. 2012) 665 F.3d 588, 600, fn. 11; United States v. Barton (3d Cir. 2011) 633 F.3d 168, 171; United States v. Rozier (11th Cir. 2010) 598 F.3d 768, 771, fn. 6; and United States v. Vongxay (9th Cir. 2010) 594 F.3d 1111, 1115.) In any event, whether dictum or not, Heller’s declaration of presumptively lawful prohibitions comes in a United States

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Related

United States v. Rozier
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District of Columbia v. Heller
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United States v. Huet
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Tobe v. City of Santa Ana
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People v. Holdsworth
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People v. McCabe CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mccabe-ca3-calctapp-2015.