People v. Rich CA2/8

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 5, 2015
DocketB253180
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Rich CA2/8 (People v. Rich CA2/8) 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. Rich CA2/8, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 3/5/15 P. v. Rich CA2/8

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B253180

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA054013) v.

ELIJAH RICH,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles. Daviann L. Mitchell, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part.

James Koester, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Steven E. Mercer and Tannaz Kouhpainezhad, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_______________________________ SUMMARY Defendant Elijah Rich contends his conviction of stalking must be reversed because the trial court erroneously denied his request to act as his own attorney. He also asserts the trial court prejudicially misinstructed the jury on the elements of prison prior allegations, four of which the jury found true, so that a retrial is required on those allegations. Because the record reflects defendant was still serving his sentence on one of the four prior convictions at the time the current crime was committed, we reverse the jury’s finding that a term was served in prison as described in Penal Code section 667.51 for that offense. We otherwise affirm the judgment. FACTS On November 21, 2013, a jury convicted defendant of the crime of stalking J. Calapon, a correctional officer, between June 14, 2011, and May 1, 2012, while defendant was in state prison. In a bifurcated proceeding, the jury also found true allegations that defendant had suffered four prior convictions for which he served a prior prison term and “did not remain free of prison custody for, and did commit an offense resulting in a felony conviction during, a period of 5 years subsequent to the conclusion of said term . . . .” The court sentenced defendant to a total term of nine years, consisting of the high term of five years on the stalking count, plus four years for the prison priors. The court also issued a 10-year protective order, ordered custody and conduct credits consistent with defendant’s discharge date of January 17, 2013 (on his most recent prison term), and made other orders not at issue on appeal. We do not describe the facts supporting defendant’s conviction of stalking, as he makes no claim of error relating to the facts underlying that conviction. The pertinent facts are those concerning the denial of his request to represent himself, and those

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.

2 relating to the bifurcated proceeding on his prison priors. We relate those facts in our legal discussion of each issue. DISCUSSION 1. The Faretta Motion A defendant has the constitutional right under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to represent himself, and may waive the right to counsel in a criminal case. (Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806, 818-820 (Faretta).) If the defendant is mentally competent and within a reasonable time before trial makes an unequivocal request for self-representation, knowingly and intelligently after having been advised by the court of its dangers, the request must be granted. (Id. at p. 835; People v. Valdez (2004) 32 Cal.4th 73, 97-98; People v. Welch (1999) 20 Cal.4th 701, 729.) A trial court “may terminate self-representation by a defendant who deliberately engages in serious and obstructionist misconduct.” (Faretta, supra, 422 U.S. at p. 834, fn. 46.) “[T]he same rule applies to the denial of a motion for self-representation in the first instance when a defendant’s conduct prior to the Faretta motion gives the trial court a reasonable basis for believing that his self-representation will create disruption.” (People v. Welch, supra, 20 Cal.4th at p. 734.) “Regardless of where it occurs, a court may order termination for misconduct that seriously threatens the core integrity of the trial.” (People v. Carson (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1, 6.) a. The facts In this case, on June 10, 2013, defendant asked to represent himself. After a colloquy between the court (the Honorable Thomas R. White) and defendant about his understanding of legal procedures and the experience of the prosecutor, the court said: “Okay. What does concern me, Mr. Rich, and I’ll get right to what I believe to be a very critical point here, is that on at least two occasions I have had to issue a force extract orders for you to be removed from your cell in county jail, transported to the facility here, and then ordered you to be removed from your cell here, and removed from your transportation as well, if necessary, in order to require you to appear in court. [¶] I see that on the last appearance on 5-22-2013, I received notification from county jail that

3 you had refused to transport to court, and I trailed the matter to today’s date for pretrial with a force extract order being issued. This is, as I say, the second time that this has occurred.” The court then asked defendant: “[W]ith regard to your issues of nonconforming conduct, your refusal to come to court, is there anything that you wanted to say with regard to that issue?” Defendant responded: “I don’t – I never had a problem with custody. They didn’t have to use any type of force on me. I am respectful of custody. They never had a problem. I don’t have any writeups, and that is all I have to say, Your Honor.” Defendant’s counsel then told the court that “this had to do with trying to get his [previous] attorney to actually even communicate with him. It was never to be disrespectful to the court.” The court responded: “I understand. However, my job is to determine whether or not it would be appropriate to allow [defendant] to represent himself in these cases. And, unfortunately, it does not appear to me that he is able to do that. There is evidence of a disciplinary pattern and history based on the fact that not once, but twice, we have had to do this, and there may actually have been a previous incident, although I didn’t see a transcript of it, and I haven’t had time just in this brief noticed period that I had about the motion to review the entire docket history. But even based on the two incidents . . . , I must determine if out-of-court disruptions would support a high likelihood of in-court disruptions. And it certainly appears to me from the nature of the refusal that there would be a clear indication that [defendant] would not be able to comport with the core trial procedures. [¶] . . . I can’t imagine that anything would be more subverting of the courtroom proceedings than just to refuse to come to court, so this tells me that [defendant] is not going to be able to comport to court rules and structures.” Observing that the court must preserve the record by reciting the incidents in question, the court continued, referring to its May 22, 2013 court order “mandating that the sheriff may use all reasonable force necessary to secure the defendant’s appearance in court, including forced extraction from his cell at the county jail and from the local lockup for appearance in court, and the sheriff was also required to be tasked with

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

Related

Faretta v. California
422 U.S. 806 (Supreme Court, 1975)
People v. Tenner
862 P.2d 840 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
In Re Kelly
655 P.2d 1282 (California Supreme Court, 1983)
People v. Welch
976 P.2d 754 (California Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Johnson
51 Cal. Rptr. 3d 893 (California Court of Appeal, 2006)
People v. Winslow
40 Cal. App. 4th 680 (California Court of Appeal, 1995)
People v. McGee
133 P.3d 1054 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Langston
95 P.3d 865 (California Supreme Court, 2004)
People v. Valdez
82 P.3d 296 (California Supreme Court, 2004)
People v. Carson
104 P.3d 837 (California Supreme Court, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Rich CA2/8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rich-ca28-calctapp-2015.