People v. Sandoval

225 Cal. Rptr. 3d 891
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedNovember 30, 2017
DocketD071560
StatusPublished

This text of 225 Cal. Rptr. 3d 891 (People v. Sandoval) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Sandoval, 225 Cal. Rptr. 3d 891 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

BENKE, Acting P. J.

An information charged defendant Marco Antonio Sandoval with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse resulting in a traumatic condition ( Pen. Code,1 § 273.5, subd. (f)(1), count 1) and making a criminal threat (§ 422, subd. (a), count 2). The information alleged defendant had suffered two prison (§ 667.5, subd. (b)) and two strike (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(j) & 1170.12) priors. The offenses arose out of an incident on May 23, 2016, in which defendant punched his wife, A.H., choked her to the point of unconsciousness, and threatened to kill her if she left him.

On September 23, 2016, defendant pleaded no contest to count 1 and admitted one prison prior. The plea included a stipulated five-year upper term, suspended; three-years felony probation; and a dismissal of count 2 and all additional allegations in the information. At the October 14 sentencing, over the objections of defendant and A.H., the court reissued a criminal protective order (CPO) using Judicial Council form CR-160 preventing defendant from initiating any contact whatsoever with A.H. for three years.

Defendant's sole contention on appeal is that the court erred in refusing to terminate the CPO or otherwise modify it to allow some contact between him and A.H. Respondent the People agree with defendant and request that this case be remanded to allow the trial court to consider a more narrowly tailored protective order.

As we explain, we affirm the CPO with a minor modification. We conclude the court properly exercised its broad discretion under section 1203.097, subdivision (a)(2) when it issued the CPO preventing defendant from initiating any contact whatsoever with A.H., pending a showing by defendant that he was making at least some progress in addressing his anger management issues and drug addiction, a showing he had yet to make on this record. However, we further conclude the CPO should be modified to allow A.H. to initiate contact, if any, with defendant that is acceptable and welcomed by her .

OVERVIEW

The CPO was initially issued by the court on August 8, 2016. It required defendant to avoid any "personal, electronic, telephonic, or written contact" with A.H., including through a third-party (except an *894attorney of record), and to stay more than 100 yards away from her (sometimes collectively, stay-away provision). It was reissued three days later, on the same terms.

At the September 23 hearing, the prosecutor noted for the record that he was agreeing to the plea in part because A.H. had been "very uncooperative" at the August 19 preliminary hearing when, over the People's objection, she invoked her alleged Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court asked the probation department to make a recommendation at the upcoming sentencing whether the CPO should remain in effect.

The October 6 probation report noted that in late September A.H. requested that the CPO be lifted. The report further noted that A.H. advised probation that she intended to appear at the October 14 sentencing and request the termination of the CPO; that she and defendant had been working on their marriage and she believed it was in "God's hands"; and that she had not wanted the CPO issued in the first instance. The probation report recommended that defendant be ordered not to "annoy, harass, or threaten" A.H. either "personally or through a third party," ostensibly what defendant refers to as a "good conduct order," but stopped short of recommending there be no contact whatsoever between defendant and A.H.

At the October 14 sentencing, A.H. asked the court to terminate the CPO. In so doing, she stated that she had known defendant for 25 years; that they were high school "sweetheart[s]" and had "reconnected" about three years ago; and that they had been married for over a year. A.H. also informed the court that she had an associate's degree and was one year away from obtaining her bachelor degree in business administration; that she had the support of her church, her pastor, and her "woman's cell groups"; that other than the two domestic violence incidents, there had been no other occurrences of "abuse" between her and defendant, including during a "cool-down period" between the May 23 incident and defendant's arrest in early August; and that she had a "safety plan" in place if "things g[o]t out of control in the future," as her sister lived only two doors down.

The court noted A.H. appeared to be "very stable" and a "very good person," but expressed concern for her welfare absent the CPO because the instant offense was "very serious," and defendant had yet to enroll in anger management classes and show he was making progress. The defense argued rather than imposing the CPO that prevented any contact between defendant and A.H., the court instead should impose a good conduct order, as noted, which the defense represented was also what A.H. wanted. The defense further argued that the stay-away provision in the CPO violated his and A.H.'s constitutional rights to marital privacy and family associations. The court kept the CPO temporarily in place, asked for further briefing from the parties and a supplemental report from probation, and set the matter for hearing on November 4.

The probation department's November 1 supplemental report stated defendant admitted "consuming methamphetamine" on October 30. Defendant also had yet to enroll in a 52-week certified anger management program. As a result, the November 1 report recommended that the CPO remain intact and that a hearing be set in late December to review defendant's progress.

Defendant's brief in support of his motion for termination or modification of the CPO argued the prior domestic violence incident that took place in October 2014, resulted in him pleading no contest to a *895mere misdemeanor violation of section 273.5, subdivision (a) ; that when the CPO issued in the instant case, it was without any input from A.H.; that A.H. believed the police officer report concerning the May 23 incident contained exaggerations and untruthful information about what had taken place; and that defendant and A.H. had lived together peacefully as husband and wife after the incident.

At the November 4 hearing, the defense informed the court that defendant had enrolled in, but not yet started, an anger management program. The defense argued section 1203.097, subdivision (a)(2), discussed in detail post , gave the court the discretion to impose a good conduct CPO without any "residence exclusion or stay-away conditions."

The court denied defendant's request to terminate or modify the CPO to allow him some contact with A.H. In so doing, it found that the real problem in this case was defendant's "long-standing" substance abuse, as both domestic violence incidents centered around defendant and his drug use; that defendant continued to abuse drugs, including as recently as October 30 when he admitted using methamphetamine; and that defendant's ongoing drug use and anger management issues were a "very strong red flag" that something else could potentially happen to A.H.

Near the conclusion of the hearing, the court encouraged defendant to appeal the issue of whether A.H.'s desire to have contact with him "trump[ed] the statutory analysis" required for domestic violence victims.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 Cal. Rptr. 3d 891, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sandoval-calctapp5d-2017.