People v. Ollo

487 P.3d 981, 279 Cal. Rptr. 3d 668, 11 Cal. 5th 682
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 2021
DocketS260130
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 487 P.3d 981 (People v. Ollo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Ollo, 487 P.3d 981, 279 Cal. Rptr. 3d 668, 11 Cal. 5th 682 (Cal. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. TREYVON LOVE OLLO, Defendant and Appellant.

S260130

Second Appellate District, Division Two B290948

Los Angeles County Superior Court KA115677

June 21, 2021

Justice Liu authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Corrigan, Cuéllar, Kruger, Groban, and Jenkins concurred. PEOPLE v. OLLO S260130

Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

Penal Code section 12022.7, subdivision (a) provides that a defendant who personally inflicts great bodily injury on any person other than an accomplice in the commission of a felony shall receive an additional three-year term of imprisonment following the prison term imposed for the underlying offense. In 2018, a Los Angeles County jury convicted defendant Treyvon Love Ollo of furnishing or giving a controlled substance to a minor (Health & Saf. Code, § 11353) and found true the allegation that Ollo had personally inflicted great bodily injury upon the minor in the commission of the offense. The trial court imposed a nine-year prison sentence for the furnishing count, plus an additional three years for the great bodily injury enhancement. The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding as a matter of law that furnishing drugs to a victim who later overdoses is sufficient for a great bodily injury enhancement. (People v. Ollo (2019) 42 Cal.App.5th 1152, 1158 (Ollo).) We granted review to determine whether a defendant who furnishes a controlled substance “personally inflicts” great bodily injury whenever the person furnished with the drugs suffers such injury from using the drugs. (Pen. Code, § 12022.7; all undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.) In other words, is a conviction for furnishing or giving a controlled substance sufficient as a matter of law to establish personal infliction of great bodily injury under section 12022.7? We hold that the act of furnishing is not by itself sufficient to establish

1 PEOPLE v. OLLO Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

personal infliction. Whether a defendant who furnishes drugs personally inflicts such injury depends on the facts of the particular case. To determine whether a defendant personally inflicts an injury, factfinders and courts must examine the circumstances of the underlying offense and the defendant’s role in causing the injury that followed. I. On June 29, 2017, 18-year-old Ollo sent his 16-year-old girlfriend, Reina, a text message telling her that he had cocaine. Reina arrived at Ollo’s house around 5:00 p.m. Reina used an identification card to separate two lines of white powder, and she then snorted one line. Ollo did not partake. He later told the police that the powder “smell[ed] like gasoline” and was less white than the cocaine he usually purchased. Around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., 30 minutes after snorting the substance, Reina fell asleep. At 9:00 p.m., Ollo checked to make sure Reina was still breathing. Ollo then fell asleep next to Reina. Ollo woke up the next morning between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. When he tried to rouse Reina, she was nonresponsive, cold, and stiff. Ollo sent text messages to a friend asking for help putting Reina in a car to take her to the hospital, but the friend said he did not want to get involved. Ollo then called 911. Reina was pronounced dead at the scene. A white powdery substance collected from the dresser near Reina’s body tested positive for fentanyl. Toxicology samples collected during Reina’s autopsy also tested positive for fentanyl. The medical examiner determined that Reina died from fentanyl intoxication. Ollo was charged with furnishing, giving, or offering to furnish or give a controlled substance to a minor. (Health & Saf.

2 PEOPLE v. OLLO Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

Code, § 11353.) The prosecutor further alleged that in the commission of this crime, Ollo personally inflicted great bodily injury upon Reina. (§ 12022.7, subd. (a).) After the prosecutor presented her case-in-chief, Ollo moved to dismiss the allegation of great bodily injury. The court denied the motion. Defense counsel then requested clarification of the court’s order and asserted that he “should be able to argue whether the facts meet the elements” of the great bodily injury enhancement. The court, relying on People v. Martinez (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 1169 (Martinez), responded, “He wants to argue she’s responsible for her own death, she took the drugs on her own volition, right? And according to these cases I don’t think you can argue that.” Defense counsel objected, arguing that the case law cited by the court was “very distinguishable as to the acts” and that “it would be a complete violation of Mr. Ollo’s Sixth Amendment right to prevent [defense counsel] from arguing whether or not facts from the stand meet the elements.” The court concluded this exchange by stating, “If your argument is going to be [Ollo] gave [Reina] the drugs — if you believe he gave her the drugs, he’s not responsible because she voluntarily took them, I don’t think that can be done because I think it’s in contravention to [Martinez].” In his closing statement, defense counsel argued that there was no evidence Ollo gave the fentanyl to Reina. He did not discuss whether the facts met the elements of the great bodily injury enhancement. The jury convicted Ollo of offering a controlled substance to a minor and furnishing or giving away a controlled substance to a minor. It also sustained the allegation that Ollo personally inflicted great bodily injury upon Reina within the meaning of section 12022.7, subdivision (a).

3 PEOPLE v. OLLO Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

The court sentenced Ollo to nine years in prison, plus an additional three years for the great bodily injury enhancement. On appeal, Ollo argued that the trial court erred by limiting defense counsel’s closing argument. The Court of Appeal affirmed. (Ollo, supra, 42 Cal.App.5th at pp. 1158– 1159.) It noted that “trial courts enjoy ‘ “great latitude” ’ in regulating the permissible scope of closing argument . . . , and on that basis may preclude any argument that is contrary to the law.” (Id. at p. 1156, citation omitted.) It then held that “a defendant’s act of furnishing drugs and the user’s voluntary act of ingesting them constitute concurrent direct causes, such that the defendant who so furnishes personally inflicts great bodily injury upon his victim when she subsequently dies from an overdose.” (Id. at p. 1158.) Acknowledging the breadth of its holding, the court said that “drug dealers are liable for additional prison time whenever the persons to whom they furnish drugs are subjected to great bodily injury due to their drug use.” (Id. at p. 1159, italics added.) We granted review. II. “California has many sentencing statutes that increase the prison term otherwise available for the charged offense.” (People v. Modiri (2006) 39 Cal.4th 481, 491 (Modiri).) These sentence enhancements “ ‘typically focus on an element of the commission of the crime or the criminal history of the defendant which is not present for all such crimes and perpetrators and which justifies a higher penalty than that prescribed for the offenses themselves.’ ” (People v. Ahmed (2011) 53 Cal.4th 156, 161 (Ahmed).) “[T]here are at least two types of sentence enhancements: (1) those which go to the nature of the offender; and (2) those which go to the nature of the offense.” (People v.

4 PEOPLE v. OLLO Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

Coronado (1995) 12 Cal.4th 145, 156.) The first category generally focuses on “the defendant’s status as a repeat offender.” (Ibid.) The second category “arise[s] from the circumstances of the crime and typically focus[es] on what the defendant did when the current offense was committed.” (Id. at p. 157.) Section 12022.7 belongs to the second category. (Ahmed, at p.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
487 P.3d 981, 279 Cal. Rptr. 3d 668, 11 Cal. 5th 682, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ollo-cal-2021.