People v. Rushing CA4/2

California Court of Appeal·Decided May 6, 2015·No. E060382·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 5/6/15 P. v. Rushing CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, E060382 v. (Super.Ct.No. FWV1300146) LISA GAYE RUSHING, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Jon D. Ferguson, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

C. Matthew Missakian, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Lynne G. McGinnis and Eric A. Swenson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury found defendant and appellant Lisa Gaye Rushing guilty of two counts of commercial burglary (Pen. Code, § 459; counts 1 & 3)1 and two counts of petty theft with a prior theft-related conviction (§§ 484, subd. (a), 666, subd. (a); counts 2 & 4). Defendant was sentenced to a total term of three years eight months pursuant to section 1170, subdivision (h), with one year six months to be served in county jail and two years two months to be completed on mandatory supervision on various terms and conditions. On appeal, defendant argues that (1) her conviction on count 3 must be reversed because a significant mistake was made on the verdict form rendering the jury’s intention unclear; and (2) two of her conditions of mandatory supervision must be stricken because they are unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. We modify one of defendant’s supervision conditions, and reject her remaining contentions and affirm the judgment.

I

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On July 27, 2012, Kristen Quattrocchi, the general manager of an ULTA cosmetics store in Chino, viewed the store’s surveillance video due to a theft that occurred on July 26, 2012. On the video, an adult woman, later identified as defendant, and a girl, identified as defendant’s 12-year-old daughter, can be seen walking into the store, and defendant taking bottles of perfume off a shelf and handing them to her daughter. Defendant’s daughter then places the perfume bottles into a purse. Defendant 1 All future statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

and her daughter take about 12 perfume bottles and leave the store without paying for any of the items.

On November 9, 2012, Quattrocchi noticed the Christian Dior perfume section of the ULTA store looked surprisingly empty. She then viewed the store’s surveillance video from the prior day and saw defendant and her daughter taking perfume bottles off the shelf and placing them in a bag. From the location of the shelves, Quattrocchi determined they took Dior J’Adore, Estee Lauder Beautiful, and Estee Lauder Sensuous perfumes.

On November 30, 2012, Quattrocchi saw defendant and her daughter in the fragrance section of the ULTA store. Quattrocchi recognized defendant’s daughter as the girl in the video based on her distinctive bright pink Hello Kitty purse. Quattrocchi also recognized defendant as the adult woman in the video. Quattrocchi called the police. Later, Quattrocchi watched the store’s surveillance video from November 30, and saw defendant and her daughter walking around the perfume section and taking perfumes from the Estee Lauder section.

Law enforcement subsequently arrived and detained defendant and her daughter.

Inside defendant’s purse, an officer found three new, sealed bottles of perfume—one bottle of Estee Lauder Sensuous and two bottles of Estee Lauder Beautiful. Quattrocchi confirmed the perfume bottles found in defendant’s purse were taken from the ULTA store.

The officer also made contact with defendant’s adult daughter, who was waiting in a car in the parking lot. A search of defendant’s cell phone showed two text messages between defendant and her adult daughter, in which they discussed an eBay account defendant maintained and perfumes. The eBay records revealed that defendant sold the stolen perfumes online for below retail price.

II

DISCUSSION

A. Vacate Conviction Due to Unclear Intention Defendant contends that her conviction on count 3 for commercial burglary must be vacated because a significant mistake on the verdict form renders the jury’s intention unclear. Specifically, defendant states that the verdict form for count 3 “asked the jury to render a verdict as to the crime of ‘second-degree commercial burglary . . . in violation of Penal Code Section 484(a),’ ” but section 484, subdivision (a), relates to petty theft, not burglary. Defendant reasons that the ambiguity must have misled the jury and that “it is not unmistakably clear the jury intended to find [her] guilty of commercial burglary.” Defendant believes that since “it is impossible to determine whether the jury actually reached a verdict on the essential elements of commercial burglary,” the error is structural and reversal on count 3 is warranted.

The People respond defendant’s claim is forfeited on appeal because defendant did not object to the wording of the verdict form. In the alternative, the People maintain the clerical error here was harmless given the evidence in this case, the language of the

information, the language of the other verdict forms, the court’s jury instructions, and the arguments of counsel. We are inclined to agree with the People.

“An objection to jury verdict forms is generally deemed waived if not raised in the trial court.” (People v. Toro (1989) 47 Cal.3d 966, 976, fn. 6, overruled on other grounds in People v. Guiuan (1998) 18 Cal.4th 558, 568, fn. 3; see People v. Jones (2003) 29 Cal.4th 1229, 1259 [failure to object to assertedly ambiguous verdict form]; People v. Bolin (1998) 18 Cal.4th 297, 330 (Bolin) [defendant forfeited claim of error related to verdict form that contained incorrect code section reflecting prior serious felony conviction on a section 667, subdivision (a) finding and, in any event, the erroneous form used by the jury to reflect their finding was not prejudicial]; see also People v. Harders (1962) 201 Cal.App.2d 795, 798-799 [failure of counsel to object to verdict form identifying charged crime for which guilty verdict was returned by the wrong count number].) However, a reviewing court may in its discretion consider the challenge when it raises an issue that implicates the defendant’s constitutional rights and when defense counsel was arguably ineffective for failing to raise it below. (People v. Abbaszadeh (2003) 106 Cal.App.4th 642, 649-650; see People v. Osband (1996) 13 Cal.4th 622, 689 [noting that, pursuant to section 1259, a “claim of instructional error may be considered for [the] first time on appeal if ‘the substantial rights of the defendant were affected’ by the asserted error”]; People v. Radil (1977) 76 Cal.App.3d 702, 710 [where no objection is made at trial, “the form of the verdict is to be regarded as immaterial where,

considering the form of the information and the plea of the defendant, the intention to convict of the crime charged is unmistakably expressed”].)

Here, defendant acknowledges that she did not object to the defect in the challenged verdict form, but urges the error affected her substantial rights. We disagree. The defect in the verdict form on count 3 appears to be one of a clerical error. (See People v. Camacho (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 1269, 1274 (Camacho); People v. Trotter (1992) 7 Cal.App.4th 363, 370 (Trotter).) As such, defendant’s claim is forfeited on appeal.

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