People v. Owen

226 Cal. App. 3d 996, 277 Cal. Rptr. 341, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 472, 91 Daily Journal DAR 560, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 19
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 10, 1991
DocketF012459
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 226 Cal. App. 3d 996 (People v. Owen) 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. Owen, 226 Cal. App. 3d 996, 277 Cal. Rptr. 341, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 472, 91 Daily Journal DAR 560, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 19 (Cal. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

Opinion

BEST, P. J.

Statement of the Case

Roger Connelly Owen appeals from the judgment on a jury verdict convicting him of involuntary manslaughter (Pen. Code, § 192, subd. (b)), 1 a lesser included offense of murder, for the shooting death of Danny Yoakum. The court denied probation and sentenced him to the mitigated term of two years plus two years for the gun use (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)), and imposed a $10,000 fine. Defendant raises two novel issues: (1) did the court have a sua sponte duty to instruct on the presumption contained in section 198.5 that defendant had a reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury, and (2) was defense counsel incompetent for failing to request such an instruction? We conclude the jury was instructed adequately on the principle embodied in section 198.5 by the other instructions given; thus, there was no sua sponte duty to instruct nor was counsel incompetent for failing to request such an instruction.

Statement of Facts

On February 18, 1989, the day of the shooting, defendant lived with his girlfriend Connie Carlstrom at 4624 North Hughes Street in Fresno. In *1000 1987 and 1988, Danny Yoakum, his father Marshall Yoakum, and a man named Jeff lived in the house with defendant and Connie. Danny moved out of the house in January 1988. Marshall and Jeff moved out in June 1988. The men left a number of things behind including a dryer which belonged to Danny and a bookcase which belonged to Marshall.

Marshall, Danny, Connie and defendant had worked together at The Source, a motorcycle novelty items distributing warehouse. Marshall managed the business and Danny worked there at the time of his death. Connie had quit the company a week before the shooting and defendant had quit on friendly terms in November 1987 because he needed more income.

Defendant and Danny had argued occasionally. Defendant had been instrumental in convincing Marshall to ask Danny to move out of the house because Danny frequently brought home strangers he met at motorcycle shows. Defendant and Danny also had some business management type disagreements about The Source.

On February 18, in the early afternoon, Danny arrived unannounced at the Hughes Street residence and said he wanted to retrieve his belongings. Defendant helped him load a table and chair into his van. Danny walked through the house looking for other items. The visit lasted about five minutes and defendant and Danny seemed to get along. Danny asked if he could return later to get his dryer and Connie said that was fine.

Later that evening, Danny returned for the dryer accompanied by Albert “Bert” Logsdon. Defendant had never seen Bert before but Connie had seen him several times at The Source where he was newly employed. When the men retrieved the dryer from the garage, Danny looked around as if he were looking for more items that belonged to him. Danny and Bert took the dryer to Danny’s apartment. Danny said he wanted to go back and talk to defendant about some items he had seen at the house. Danny returned to the Hughes residence with Bert. He asked Bert to wait in the car because he did not want to embarrass defendant in front of Bert. As Danny was walking up to the door, Bert told him jokingly to yell if he needed backup.

About 10 minutes after Danny left with the dryer, defendant answered Danny’s knock at the door. Danny said, “I want my stuif,” and screamed that he wanted Marshall’s bookcase. Defendant told him nothing else at the house was his and attempted to close the door. The remaining items left at the house belonged to Marshall. Marshall had not told defendant to let Danny have anything nor had he told Danny he could have the bookcase. Danny stuck his foot in the door to prevent defendant from closing it and punched it open with his fist. Danny approached defendant kicking and *1001 punching. His eyes were wide, his face “enraged.” Defendant tried to defend himself by kicking and punching back.

From the van, Bert saw Danny making punching motions and joined him at the doorway. Defendant was standing inside the doorway. Bert grabbed defendant by the arms and pushed him back in an attempt to stop the fight. Danny said to let defendant go, so Bert released him and backed off behind Danny. Defendant and Danny started to fight again. Danny forced defendant back into the kitchen adjacent to the entryway.

Bert assessed the fight as pretty even. Danny was approximately 6 feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds. Defendant was 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed about 185 pounds. Bert was 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds.

According to Bert, the men stopped fighting periodically and yelled at each other, then commenced fighting again. Defendant tried to pull something from his pocket. Bert thought he was going for a weapon and told him to stop. Danny and defendant fought into the living room which was on the opposite side of the entryway from the kitchen. Defendant pulled a pocket knife from his belt. Bert told him to put it away or he would “get involved.” Defendant returned the knife and left the room. Bert tried to get Danny to leave but Danny began to yell at Connie. Twenty to thirty seconds later, Danny turned around and was headed out the front door. Defendant walked quickly through the kitchen holding a gun pointed toward the floor. He brought the gun up, said something like “take this” and from a distance of two to four feet fired one shot at Danny. Danny dropped at the threshold of the door. His legs from the knees down were inside the house; the rest of his body lay prone on the front doorstep. Defendant asked, “what happened” and put the gun on the kitchen counter. Bert told Connie to call an ambulance.

According to Connie, when defendant answered the door, Danny began to shout at him. She went to the kitchen to see what was going on and observed Danny beating and clawing at defendant while defendant tried to push him off. She yelled at Danny to stop. Danny had hold of defendant’s shirt and was punching him and forcing him back through the kitchen. Danny said defendant had thrown him out of the house and he wanted his father’s bookcase back. Defendant said he would talk to Marshall in the morning and Danny should leave. Danny seemed to be getting the better of the fight. All of a sudden, defendant was gone and Connie was facing Danny. Danny yelled that she had cheated his company, lied to him and stole from him. He was enraged; his eyes were huge and his face was gray. Connie was frightened of Danny because he would not stop fighting and leave; however, Danny did not attempt to grab or strike her. She turned to *1002 her left and saw defendant holding a gun pointed up in the air. She turned to go to the phone and heard a shot. Defendant said, “I’m sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen.” Bert said, “Danny’s dying, call an ambulance.” Before that evening, Connie knew Danny could be verbally abusive but she had never seen him hit or attack anyone.

According to defendant, when Danny forced his way into the house, Bert came in and grabbed him. When Bert released him, Danny began to attack again and forced defendant back into the kitchen. Bert approached again, hit defendant on the shoulder and told him to back off. Danny continued to scream and to demand the bookcase.

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

Related

People v. Cudjo CA2/2
California Court of Appeal, 2026
State v. Allison
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2025
People v. Castellanos CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2024
People v. Marquez
California Court of Appeal, 2023
People v. Zamora CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2023
People v. Reyes CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Grays
246 Cal. App. 4th 679 (California Court of Appeal, 2016)
People v. Dalton CA3
California Court of Appeal, 2015
People v. Coles CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2014
P. v. Pulley CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2013
Tony Goodrum v. Jerry Brown
387 F. App'x 750 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
People v. Garvin
1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 774 (California Court of Appeal, 2003)
People v. Hardin
102 Cal. Rptr. 2d 262 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
People v. Ramsey
94 Cal. Rptr. 2d 301 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
State v. Anderson
1998 OK CR 67 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1998)
People v. Silvey
58 Cal. App. 4th 1320 (California Court of Appeal, 1997)
People v. Curtis
30 Cal. App. 4th 1337 (California Court of Appeal, 1994)
Untitled California Attorney General Opinion
California Attorney General Reports, 1994
People v. Brown
6 Cal. App. 4th 1489 (California Court of Appeal, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
226 Cal. App. 3d 996, 277 Cal. Rptr. 341, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 472, 91 Daily Journal DAR 560, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-owen-calctapp-1991.