People v. Sandoval CA2/8

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 5, 2016
DocketB264631
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Sandoval CA2/8 (People v. Sandoval 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. Sandoval CA2/8, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 5/5/16 P. v. Sandoval CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B264631

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA325750) v.

ARMONDO SANDOVAL,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Edmund Wilcox Clarke, Jr., Judge. Affirmed as modified.

H. Russell Halpern for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr., Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Amanda V. Lopez, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

________________________________ A jury convicted Armondo Sandoval of second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187),1 second degree robbery (§ 211), and assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)). By the time of trial, the prosecution was unable to locate one of the eyewitnesses who testified at the preliminary hearing. The trial court determined the prosecution exercised reasonable diligence in attempting to secure the witness’s attendance at trial. The court thus allowed the People to read the witness’s preliminary hearing testimony to the jury. On appeal, Sandoval contends this was error. We direct the trial court to correct an omission in the abstract of judgment and otherwise affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND We summarize the evidence in accordance with the usual rules on appeal. (People v. Virgil (2011) 51 Cal.4th 1210, 1263.) Around 3:00 a.m. on July 13, 2007, R. Bass and B. Dennis were together at Broadway and 42nd Street in Los Angeles. According to Bass, she had been smoking marijuana that day and was drinking beer. Dennis had used cocaine and was drinking gin. Kenneth Johnson and Theodore Giddens, who was also known as “Ishu,” were nearby. Johnson was in his car. Defendant came into the area and began spray painting a wall. He then approached Bass, Dennis, and others with them, waved a gun at them, and demanded money. Defendant and Giddens argued. Defendant followed Giddens down an alley and began shooting. In an interview with police, Bass identified defendant as the shooter from a photographic lineup. At the trial in 2014, Bass again identified defendant as the man with the gun. J. Davie told police he was present during the incident. Davie saw defendant walk up to Johnson, discuss dope, and yell something about “Four Trey.” Defendant first shot at Johnson, then he began yelling at Giddens. Giddens ran down an alley as defendant shot at him. Davie saw defendant walk back down 42nd Street toward Main. Davie

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 identified defendant from a photographic lineup as the man he saw shoot at Johnson and Giddens.2 Before an ambulance took him to the hospital, Johnson told police he had been parked in a lot at 42nd Street and Broadway, talking to Giddens. A bald, shirtless, Hispanic male of small build approached Giddens. The man’s upper body was covered with tattoos. The man pulled out what appeared to be .45 caliber handgun, pointed it at Giddens, and said, repeatedly, “You got a beef?” Johnson began driving away. The man began shooting. Johnson realized he had been shot. He drove himself to the police station. Johnson later died from a gunshot wound to the chest. He had cocaine in his system at the time of death. At around 3:30 a.m. on the morning of the shooting, J. Verduzco was standing in the area of Vernon and Main in Los Angeles. Defendant, shirtless, approached Verduzco. He pointed a gun at Verduzco’s head and asked, “Where are you from?” Verduzco answered he “wasn’t from anywhere,” meaning he did not belong to a gang. Defendant demanded Verduzco’s wallet and cell phone, then he hit Verduzco on the head with the gun. Verduzco identified defendant from a photographic lineup as a person who looked like the man who attacked him. At trial, Verduzco identified defendant as the man who attacked him. Around 3:30 a.m. on the morning of the shooting, Los Angeles Police Department officer Dana Grant was patrolling near 42nd Street and Broadway, searching for a suspect in response to a call about the incident. On 42nd Street and Main, Grant saw someone matching the description of the suspect: a Hispanic male with no shirt, a bald head, and

2 At trial, Davie recanted his previous statements to police. He insisted he was not present when Giddens was shot, he did not see Giddens get shot, and he did not tell police he witnessed the shooting. He testified he was unable to read or write and the police investigator simply “wrote stuff” and told him to sign his name. Although Davie told police he knew defendant as a person named “Nano,” at trial Davie said defendant did not look like Nano and the Nano he knew was much smaller than defendant.

3 covered in tattoos.3 Defendant was standing near a house. Grant found Verduzco’s wallet and cell phone on the ground nearby. Later that day, police discovered a gun on the porch of the house. A criminalist determined casings found in the alley where Giddens was shot matched the gun and magazine found on the porch.4 A recording of one of defendant’s telephone conversations from jail was played for the jury. In the call, defendant identified himself as “Nano.” He explained he had the “murder book” and had seen “the whole file. Everything.” Defendant directed the other person on the call to “get at” certain individuals, and said others needed to “take off.” Defendant explained: “I already got the . . . written statement . . . signed and everything from that fool . . . against me. . . . You let him know to fuck that fool up.” Defendant then asked if the other man knew Dennis, who he described as “the shortest one. The smallest one. . . . She hangs out there where the Arrowhead . . . she’s always sitting there.” Defendant continued: “The tiny one, she is the main witness fool. . . . She says she saw everything, fool. Yeah, fool. She saw everything. Everything. I got her shit too. I got her shit on her too. . . . Everything, fool. Everything here, fool. Because yesterday they gave me the murder – they gave me everything fool.” As the associate said he would “get” another person, defendant returned to Dennis: “The tiny one is the one who worries me more, fool. . . .” The associate asked: “Her name is [Dennis], right?” When defendant confirmed the name, the associate said he would try to find out where she lived, and: “[W]e will make her disappear, it’s better.” Defendant answered: “Yeah.”

3 At the 2014 trial, Grant did not recognize the person she detained that night in the courtroom. However, she recognized a photograph of defendant taken on the night of the incident as the person she arrested.

4 However, the bullet recovered from Johnson’s body could not have been fired from the gun found on the porch. Defendant was not tried for the murder of Johnson.

4 At trial, a gang expert opined defendant was a member of the Hang Out Boys gang, a rival of the Four Trey gang. The Hang Out Boys claimed a territory that included the area where the shooting occurred, but that territory was entirely surrounded by an area claimed by the Four Trey gang. Using photographs, the expert testified defendant had gang-related tattoos on his stomach, back, and left and right biceps.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Sandoval CA2/8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sandoval-ca28-calctapp-2016.