People v. Reed CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 14, 2024
DocketD084259
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Reed CA4/1 (People v. Reed CA4/1) 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. Reed CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 10/14/24 P. v. Reed CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D084259

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. BLF2000090) v.

TYRONE EUGENE REED,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County, Rene Navarro, Judge. Affirmed with directions. Stephanie M. Adraktas, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Kathryn A. Kirschbaum and Collette C. Cavalier, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. INTRODUCTION A jury convicted Tyrone Eugene Reed of mayhem, inflicting corporal injury on a current or former significant other, first degree burglary, interfering with the use of a wireless device, battery, and felony vandalism. The charges stemmed from physical violence perpetrated by Reed against the mother of his child, and Reed’s conduct surrounding his arrest. Following his conviction, the trial court sentenced him to 20 years in state prison. Reed appeals from the judgment and asserts several claims of instructional error. First, he argues the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury as to the elements of mayhem. Next, Reed contends the court should have provided a pinpoint instruction related to his defense to the burglary charge, and his counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to request this instruction. Finally, he makes several claims of error pertaining to the vandalism instructions, including: the jury instructions permitted the jury to aggregate the amount of damage from separate incidents of vandalism; the court should have instructed the jury on the lesser included offense of misdemeanor vandalism; and the court failed to provide a unanimity instruction. Reed also asserts errors pertaining to admitting evidence relevant to the domestic violence charge. He argues the court abused its discretion in allowing expert testimony related to “domestic battering” because the investigator who offered the testimony was unqualified to do so. Additionally, he contends the court improperly admitted evidence of a prior act of domestic violence under Evidence Code section 1109 without first weighing the probative value against its prejudicial effects. In his final claim, submitted in his supplemental opening brief, Reed argues the court should have stayed punishment for his burglary conviction

pursuant to Penal Code section 654.1 According to Reed, he could not be

1 Further unspecified statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 punished for both burglary and mayhem because the mayhem offense was the intended felony underlying the burglary charge. As we shall discuss, we find no prejudicial error. However, we direct the trial court to correct the abstract of judgment, but otherwise affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2017 or 2018, Reed and Jane Doe2 began an “off and on” dating relationship for approximately two or two and a half years. By July 2020, they had a two-year-old son and Doe was seven and a half months pregnant with their second child. Doe lived with their son in a two bedroom apartment located in Blythe, California. On July 10, 2020, Doe and Reed attended a “well-baby checkup” appointment together. Reed brought Doe items for the baby, including diapers, bottles, and clothing. Although Doe and Reed had a “positive” experience that day, Doe did not have plans to see Reed at her apartment later that evening. According to Doe’s statement to the police, she and Reed were separated at the time. During the evening after the pregnancy check-up, Doe was asleep in her bedroom when she woke to the sound of loud knocking. As Doe reached to unlock the door, Reed kicked or pushed in the door, causing damage to the doorframe. Reed yelled and cursed at Doe and entered the apartment. Doe saw something in Reed’s hand, but during her trial testimony, she couldn’t remember what it was.

2 We refer to the victim as Jane Doe to protect her privacy interests. (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.90(b)(4).) 3 Doe felt scared and walked out of the apartment to call the police. Reed followed Doe outside. While Doe was on the phone with a 911 operator, Reed “snatched” the phone from her hand and threw it. Reed then tried to stab Doe with a knife. Doe grabbed the knife in an attempt to stop it from hitting her stomach. According to Doe, but for grabbing the knife, Reed would have stabbed her in the stomach. Doe feared for her life and the life of her unborn child in that moment. When Doe grabbed the knife, she suffered two wounds to her right hand. She attempted to stop the bleeding to her hand with her shirt, which became “soaked from the blood” as a result. Doe then tried to walk up a stairwell, but Reed grabbed her ankle causing her to fall down three or four steps. Reed slapped Doe in the face with an open hand, and he walked back into Doe’s apartment. Doe went to a neighbor’s apartment to seek help, and the neighbor gave her a towel to stop the bleeding to her hand. Law enforcement and paramedics arrived shortly afterward. A paramedic who arrived on-scene contacted Doe, observing a “full thickness laceration” to the inside of Doe’s right thumb. This type of laceration occurs when the fatty and muscular tissue is exposed. The pad of her middle finger was “almost completely removed and holding on by just a little bit of flesh.” The paramedic attempted to control the bleeding and transported Doe to the hospital by ambulance. At the hospital, physicians reattached Doe’s fingertip to her middle finger with stitches. The physicians grafted skin from her upper arm onto

4 her right hand to treat the wound to her thumb. Doe suffered permanent

scarring on her right thumb and middle finger from her injuries.3 Both at her apartment complex and the hospital later, Doe gave statements to the police. She stated that Reed never lived with her, and he “would just visit” her apartment. According to Doe, they separated around two weeks or a month before the instant offense, and she had “no idea” where Reed currently resided. Doe told the officers Reed was not “allowed over [at her] house at all,” and he was not invited to her apartment that evening. During the incident, the onsite property manager for Doe’s apartment complex woke to the sounds of yelling and screaming. From her window, the manager told the people outside to “be quiet or to keep it down.” Reed started yelling and cursing at the manager, and she responded saying she would call the police. Reed told the manager he would find her, and that she should “go back [to] where [she] came from.” Reed then walked away, and the manager heard more arguing. The manager heard a “slap noise,” and she observed Reed walk around the building with a “big machete type of knife.” She saw Reed use the knife to break three apartment windows. The property manager estimated the cost to “fix or repair” each window was $150.

A City of Blythe police officer4 arrived at the scene around 1:30 a.m. Reed approached the officer with blood on his hands and asked to be arrested. The officer placed Reed in the back of his patrol car, and Reed “started kicking it and bashing his head” against the plexiglass divider between the

3 Photos of Doe’s injuries were admitted into evidence and shown to the jury during trial. We have reviewed them in deciding this appeal.

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People v. Reed CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-reed-ca41-calctapp-2024.