People v. Peralez CA6

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 3, 2020
DocketH046144
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Peralez CA6 (People v. Peralez CA6) 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. Peralez CA6, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 11/3/20 P. v. Peralez CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H046144 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. C1524108)

v.

DANNY GARCIA PERALEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted appellant Danny Garcia Peralez of first degree robbery while acting in concert with others, attempted murder, three first degree burglaries, attempted burglary, and various gang and firearm sentencing enhancements. In addition, the trial court found true a prior serious felony conviction allegation and a prior strike conviction allegation. The trial court sentenced Peralez consecutively to an indeterminate term of 30 years to life in prison plus a five-year sentence enhancement for the prior serious felony and a determinate term of 29 years and eight months plus the five-year prior serious felony enhancement. On appeal, Peralez raises four claims. He contends a pretrial identification procedure was unnecessarily suggestive and tainted the eyewitness’s identification of him, the trial evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s findings on the gang enhancements, the jury instruction on eyewitness identification (CALCRIM No. 315) was flawed because it permitted consideration of the eyewitness’s level of certainty, and the matter should be remanded so the trial court may exercise its newly conferred sentencing discretion under Senate Bill No. 1393 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) on the prior serious felony enhancement. For the reasons explained below, we reverse the judgment and remand the case to allow the trial court to exercise its discretion whether to strike the prior serious felony enhancement under Penal Code sections 667, subdivision (a), and 1385. We reject Peralez’s other claims of error. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Procedural History On December 1, 2016, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed an information charging Peralez with six counts related to four incidents that occurred on October 22, 2015.1 The information alleged that Peralez committed first degree robbery while acting in concert with other persons (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 213 subd. (a)(1)(A);2 count 1), attempted murder of Albert S.3 (§§ 187, 664, subd. (a); count 2), three, first degree burglaries (§§ 459, 460, subd. (a); counts 3, 4 & 6), and attempted first degree burglary (§§ 459, 460 subd. (a), 664 subd. (a); count 5). In addition, the information stated a gang sentencing enhancement allegation in each count. (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1) & (4).) The first three counts each included a firearm sentencing enhancement allegation (§§ 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (d) & (e) [counts 1 & 2], 12022.5, subd. (a) [count 3]), and counts 3 and 5 each included an allegation that a person not an accomplice was present in the residence during the crime (hereafter “presence” allegation). (§ 667.5, subd. (c)(21).) The information further alleged that Peralez had a prior serious felony conviction (§667,

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all dates occurred in 2015. 2 Unspecified statutory references are to the Penal Code. 3 To protect the privacy of the victims, we refer to them initially by their first name and the first initial of their last name. At times thereafter, we refer to the victims by their first names only. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.90(b)(4).) 2 subd. (a)) for possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 12021), a prior strike conviction (§§ 667, subd. (b)–(i), 1170.12), and two prior felony convictions for which he had served prison terms (hereafter “prison prior” allegations) (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). At trial, the jury found Peralez guilty on all six counts and found the attendant gang, firearm, and presence allegations true. After the verdict, upon the prosecutor’s motion the trial court struck and dismissed the two prison prior allegations. The trial court then found true the prior serious felony conviction allegation and the prior strike conviction allegation. On July 25, 2018, the trial court sentenced Peralez on count 1 to an indeterminate prison term of 30 years to life plus a consecutive five-year enhancement under section 667, subdivision (a), and, on counts 2 through 6, to a consecutive determinate term of 29 years and eight months, in aggregate. The determinate term included a five-year enhancement under section 667, subdivision (a). B. Trial Evidence 1. Incidents on October 22 The prosecution presented evidence of four crimes that occurred on the morning of October 22, within a few miles of each other in San Jose. Ellen N. left her home on Crocus Drive about 7:00 a.m. When she returned home at 2:00 p.m., she discovered a large stone on her living room floor and a broken window near her kitchen. She called the police and looked through the house. All three bedrooms had been ransacked. Her laptop, several brand-name purses, money, gold, watches, brand-name belts, expensive shoes, an iPhone and iPad, and a game belonging to her daughter were missing. Kathy W. left her house on Thistle Drive around 9:45 a.m. She checked the doors to make sure they were locked when she left. Her spouse, Wayne W., had left the house before her that morning. When Wayne returned home between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., he found that a doorway to the house had been damaged and the door left open. The 3 bedrooms and an office in the house had been ransacked. Jewelry, coins, a .22-caliber Ruger target pistol, and its loaded magazine had been taken. Wayne testified the gun ejected expended casings to the right when fired. At the time of the burglary on Thistle Drive, Wayne had video cameras that recorded the happenings around his house. Police collected the videos, and the videos and still images captured from them were admitted as evidence at trial. The videos and images depict Peralez and an individual later identified as Jacob Salinas at the house. Salinas appears first around 9:50 a.m., followed by Peralez at 10:00 a.m. Salinas is wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and dark-rimmed glasses. Peralez is wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and long, dark shorts. They leave the house together at 10:13 a.m. The video shows Peralez walking out of the house with a gun in his hand and a blue Honda Accord present on the street. Catherine S. lived at a home on Carlotta Court. Around 10:30 a.m., someone rang her doorbell. A few minutes later Catherine opened the door but did not see anyone outside. Around the same time, one of Catherine’s neighbors heard three loud bangs.4 The neighbor looked into Catherine’s backyard and saw a man standing near the glass patio door. According to the neighbor, the man was Hispanic, about 19 years old, 6 feet tall, and 190 pounds. He had short dark hair and was wearing black rimmed glasses and black clothing. The man bobbed his head up and down and the neighbor heard another person say loudly, “ ‘Let’s go. Let’s go.’ ” The man then climbed over the backyard fence, walked toward a gray or blue Honda Accord, and got in through the rear passenger door. The car sped away very quickly with three people inside. The driver—who had earlier walked toward the front door of Catherine’s house—was a Hispanic man with long brown hair, in his late 20s, wearing light colored clothing and a dark hoodie. The person in the front passenger seat was leaning back and the neighbor could not describe

4 Catherine did not hear any noises or banging outside her house after she heard the doorbell. 4 him at trial, although the neighbor had previously told police that person was a Hispanic male.

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People v. Peralez CA6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-peralez-ca6-calctapp-2020.