People v. Rushing CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 6, 2015
DocketE060382
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Rushing CA4/2 (People v. Rushing CA4/2) 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. Rushing CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

1 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.

2 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.

3 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

4 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,

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

Related

People v. Lent
541 P.2d 545 (California Supreme Court, 1975)
People v. Guiuan
957 P.2d 928 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Toro
766 P.2d 577 (California Supreme Court, 1989)
People v. Carbajal
899 P.2d 67 (California Supreme Court, 1995)
People v. Paul
958 P.2d 412 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Bolin
956 P.2d 374 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Radil
76 Cal. App. 3d 702 (California Court of Appeal, 1977)
People v. Harders
201 Cal. App. 2d 795 (California Court of Appeal, 1962)
People v. Escarcega
273 Cal. App. 2d 853 (California Court of Appeal, 1969)
In Re Jh
70 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
People v. Camacho
171 Cal. App. 4th 1269 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
People v. Lopez
78 Cal. Rptr. 2d 66 (California Court of Appeal, 1998)
People v. Jungers
25 Cal. Rptr. 3d 873 (California Court of Appeal, 2005)
People v. O'NEIL
165 Cal. App. 4th 1351 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
People v. Jones
58 Cal. App. 4th 693 (California Court of Appeal, 1997)
People v. Shaun R.
188 Cal. App. 4th 1129 (California Court of Appeal, 2010)
People v. Trotter
7 Cal. App. 4th 363 (California Court of Appeal, 1992)
People v. Hackler
13 Cal. App. 4th 1049 (California Court of Appeal, 1993)
People v. Olguin
198 P.3d 1 (California Supreme Court, 2008)
People v. Castenada
3 P.3d 278 (California Supreme Court, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Rushing CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rushing-ca42-calctapp-2015.