People v. McCaw CA2/5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 30, 2014
DocketB253066
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. McCaw CA2/5 (People v. McCaw CA2/5) 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. McCaw CA2/5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 12/30/14 P. v. McCaw CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B253066

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. GA082595) v.

MICHAEL GARRETT MCCAW,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Jared Moses, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part. Maureen L. Fox, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven E. Mercer, Deputy Attorney General, and Marc A. Kohm, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _____________________________ In a prior appeal, this court affirmed the conviction of defendant and appellant Michael Garrett McCaw, but reversed findings that his 1999 conviction in New York for attempted third degree robbery was a prior serious felony conviction and a prior conviction under the three strikes law. (People v. McCaw (Jan. 9, 2013, B236754) [nonpub. opn.].) On remand, the trial court again found the prior convictions allegations true, findings defendant challenges on appeal. Defendant further contends that the court violated his constitutional rights by failing to hold a hearing pursuant to People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118 (Marsden), improperly conducting a later-requested Marsden hearing, and denying his request for substitute counsel. We again find the evidence insufficient to support the recidivism findings and reverse that portion of the judgment. We remand to allow the prosecution the opportunity to pursue a limited retrial concerning the allegations if additional evidence is available. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The jury found defendant guilty of attempted voluntary manslaughter (Pen. Code, §§ 192, 664),1 and found true the allegations that defendant used a deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and inflicted great bodily injury (§12022.7, subd. (a)). In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found that defendant had suffered a prior strike under the three strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)), and a prior serious felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)), based on a 1999 conviction for attempted third degree robbery in New York. It also found that defendant had served a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The trial court sentenced defendant to 21 years in state prison. It imposed the high term of five and a half years, doubled to eleven years under the three strikes law. The trial court imposed an additional year for use of a deadly weapon, three years for

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 inflicting great bodily injury, five years for the prior serious felony conviction, and one year for the prior prison term. Defendant argued in his prior appeal that there was insufficient evidence that his 1999 New York conviction for third degree attempted robbery, resulting from his guilty plea, constituted a prior serious felony conviction or strike for purposes of imposing sentencing enhancements under section 667, subdivision (a) and the three strikes law, because the appellate record failed to establish that the New York conviction contained all the elements of attempted robbery under California law. The Attorney General conceded the insufficiency of the evidence. We agreed the evidence was insufficient, because robbery under California law requires that property be “taken from the other person or (his/her) immediate presence” (CALCRIM No. 1600), whereas under New York law it is not required that the person robbed be in equally close physical proximity to the stolen property. Because the record did not show that the New York conviction involved conduct satisfying all the elements of the comparable California statute, we reversed and remanded for a limited retrial of the prior conviction allegations. We affirmed the judgment in all other respects.

RETRIAL OF RECIDIVISM ALLEGATIONS

The prosecution presented evidence that had been introduced in the original trial of the prior conviction allegations. This evidence included the following documents: a section 969b packet from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; a subpoena duces tecum and a certified copy of a Criminal History Record Information report from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services; and two jury instructions, one entitled “Introductory Charge to Robbery” and the other “Robbery Third Degree.” The Criminal History Record Information report states that defendant was convicted upon a plea of guilty to third degree criminal possession of a loaded firearm

3 (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 265.02, subd. (4)),2 and third degree attempted robbery (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 160.05). As additional proof of the prior convictions, the prosecution presented an affidavit by a Court Clerk Specialist, accompanied by records identified in the affidavit as “complaint, indictment, sentence and commitment, worksheet, action sheet and criminal court folder back. Certificate of Disposition.” Exhibit No. 4 includes a document that lists the offenses with which defendant was charged, specifically, one count of first degree attempted robbery (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 110 / 160.15, subd. 2), one count of third degree criminal possession of a weapon (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 265.02, subd. (3)), one count of third degree criminal possession of a weapon (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 265.02, subd. (4)), and misdemeanor resisting arrest (N.Y. Pen. Law, § 205.30). The document also includes a signed statement by Michele Jaworski, which states, in relevant part, that on or about November 3, 1997, “defendant did point a silver revolver at deponent and did state in sum and substance WE’RE GONNA’ DO THIS MY WAY and that when deponent did tell defendant that a police officer was nearby, defendant did grab deponent’s purse and did attempt to take it from her.” Exhibit No. 4 also includes a notation from the Custodian of Records of the Supreme Court of New York, Bronx County, that the following records are not contained in the court’s files: plea transcripts, the plea agreement, grand jury transcripts, the probation report, pre-plea reports, and court dockets. At the retrial on the recidivism allegations, defense counsel argued that Jaworski’s statement appeared to be a statement to provide probable cause for arrest, and that by itself, it was insufficient evidence for the court to rely upon when considering whether the elements of attempted robbery in California were met. Defendant was not convicted of attempted first degree robbery, as alleged in the document; he pled guilty to third degree attempted robbery. This would leave the court with only the elements of attempted third degree robbery to consider. Third degree robbery in New York does not

2 This subdivision of New York Penal Code section 265.02 was repealed in 2006.

4 require that the victim be present, and therefore could not qualify as a serious or dangerous felony under California law, which requires that the victim be present. Defense counsel illustrated his point: “…[I]n a situation where there’s a burglary. And you have information within the police reports, the documentation, the indictment that in fact a burglary was committed. But, at the time of sentencing, he were to plead to a receiving stolen property. [¶] The court cannot then go back and review all those documents and say, hey, I believe this was a . . .

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re WINSHIP
397 U.S. 358 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Faretta v. California
422 U.S. 806 (Supreme Court, 1975)
People v. Sanchez
264 P.3d 349 (California Supreme Court, 2011)
Descamps v. United States
133 S. Ct. 2276 (Supreme Court, 2013)
People v. Woodell
950 P.2d 85 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Tenner
862 P.2d 840 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
People v. Marsden
465 P.2d 44 (California Supreme Court, 1970)
People v. Crandell
760 P.2d 423 (California Supreme Court, 1988)
People v. Guerrero
748 P.2d 1150 (California Supreme Court, 1988)
People v. Reed
914 P.2d 184 (California Supreme Court, 1996)
People v. Zangari
108 Cal. Rptr. 2d 250 (California Court of Appeal, 2001)
People v. Rodriguez
18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 550 (California Court of Appeal, 2004)
People v. McGee
133 P.3d 1054 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Avery
38 P.3d 1 (California Supreme Court, 2002)
People v. Trujillo
146 P.3d 1259 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Medina
161 P.3d 187 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Crayton
48 P.3d 1136 (California Supreme Court, 2002)
People v. Gomez
179 P.3d 917 (California Supreme Court, 2008)
People v. Smith
591 N.E.2d 1132 (New York Court of Appeals, 1992)
Gideon v. Wainwright
372 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1963)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. McCaw CA2/5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mccaw-ca25-calctapp-2014.