People v. Sheppard CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 9, 2014
DocketE057396
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Sheppard CA4/2 (People v. Sheppard 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. Sheppard CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 4/9/14 P. v. Sheppard 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, E057396

v. (Super.Ct.No. FVI1201602)

DERRICK DJWON SHEPPARD, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. John M. Tomberlin,

Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions.

James R. Bostwick, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Lise Jacobson and Michael T.

Murphy, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 Defendant and appellant Derrick Djwon Sheppard appeals after he was convicted

of one count of petty theft with prior theft convictions and felony vandalism. He raises

issues related to sentencing: whether the court properly imposed a sentence on the

vandalism count, the propriety of the order to pay attorney fees, and the order for victim

restitution. We affirm in part and reverse in part with directions.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On the evening of June 19, 2012, the victim, David Simpson, was visiting his

girlfriend at her home in Victorville. He parked his truck in the driveway while he was

inside the house. Sometime later that night, Simpson’s girlfriend noticed that the interior

light was on in the truck. Simpson went out to look. When he opened the door, he saw

that the stereo had been removed from the dashboard, and defendant was passed out,

asleep, in the passenger seat. Defendant had Simpson’s backpack on his lap.

Simpson ran back to the house and told his girlfriend to call 911. Soon, three

sheriff’s deputies responded to the call. Deputies Ramirez and Ruiz approached the cab

of the truck from opposite sides. Deputy Ruiz, on the driver’s side, attempted to rouse

defendant by shouting at him, but defendant was not responsive. Deputy Ramirez, on the

passenger side of the truck, smelled a strong odor of alcohol, and believed that defendant

was intoxicated. Deputy Ramirez opened the passenger door and tried to pull defendant

from the truck. As Deputy Ramirez pulled defendant out of the truck, they fell together

on the side of the driveway onto the grass.

2 Defendant tried to crawl under the truck, and he kicked Deputy Ramirez twice in

the midsection. Deputy Ruiz used his taser, and Deputy Marshall struck defendant with

his knee. Eventually, the officers were able to gain control over defendant, and

handcuffed and arrested him.

Deputy Ramirez found a pair of pliers on the front seat of the truck that did not

belong to Simpson. Simpson’s stereo and radar detector were in the backpack.

As a result of these incidents, defendant was charged with one count of petty theft

with priors, one count of felony vandalism, and one count of resisting an officer. The

information also alleged that defendant had five prison term prior offenses.

The court granted defendant’s request to bifurcate proceedings. The prosecutor

agreed to dismiss one of the five prior theft-related convictions, and defendant agreed to

admit the remaining four. Defendant also admitted, as to the same four convictions, that

they were prison term priors within Penal Code section 667.5, subdivision (b). The court

also permitted the prosecutor to amend count 2 to charge misdemeanor vandalism, rather

than felony vandalism.

A jury found defendant guilty of the petty theft with priors offense, and

misdemeanor vandalism, but acquitted him on the charge of resisting an officer. The trial

court denied probation and sentenced defendant to the aggravated term of three years for

the petty theft with priors, plus a consecutive one-year term for each of the four prison

term priors. In addition, the court found that defendant had violated his probation in an

3 older case, and imposed a consecutive one-year term on the older case. The total term

was, therefore, eight years imprisonment, to be served in local jail custody.

At the oral pronouncement of judgment, the trial court apparently failed to impose

any sentence with respect to count 2. The clerk’s minutes reflect that the court sentenced

defendant to 365 days in the county jail on count 2, but the reporter’s transcript does not

show any such oral pronouncement.

The court awarded defendant 258 days of credit (129 days actual, 129 days

conduct credit under Pen. Code, § 4019) for presentence time served. The court also

ordered defendant to pay $550 toward the cost of his court-appointed attorney, and

ordered that defendant pay a restitution fine of $1,800.

Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

ANALYSIS

I. The Judgment Should Be Modified to Impose and Stay a Sentence on the

Misdemeanor Vandalism Conviction

Defendant points out that, although the clerk’s minutes reflect that defendant was

sentenced to 365 days in jail for the misdemeanor vandalism offense, the oral record in

the reporter’s transcript does not show that the court actually pronounced the sentence on

count 2. Defendant urges that the failure to orally impose a sentence on the vandalism

conviction requires that the matter be remanded to the trial court for the purpose of

imposing a sentence on count 2. The People also ask for a limited remand for this

purpose.

4 In People v. Alford (2010) 180 Cal.App.4th 1463, the defendant requested that the

matter be remanded to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing, because the trial court

had mistakenly implemented Penal Code section 654 by declining to impose (i.e.,

“staying imposition” of) any sentence on a conviction, rather than imposing and then

staying that sentence. The appellate court denied the request to remand to have the trial

court impose the missing sentence: “[Remand for this purpose] would mean pulling

defendant out of his prison programming and busing him to [the trial court] for a new

sentencing hearing that will not change his actual prison time. The futility and expense

of such a course militates against it.” (Id. at p. 1473.) The appellate court imposed the

sentence that the trial court “undoubtedly . . . would have imposed” and stayed execution

of that sentence. (Ibid.) The appellate court noted that it was exercising its “authority to

modify the judgment” pursuant to Penal Code section 1260. (Ibid.)

“Section 1260 provides: ‘The court may reverse, affirm, or modify a judgment or

order appealed from, or reduce the degree of the offense or attempted offense or the

punishment imposed, and may set aside, affirm, or modify any or all of the proceedings

subsequent to, or dependent upon, such judgment or order, and may, if proper, order a

new trial and may, if proper, remand the cause to the trial court for such further

proceedings as may be just under the circumstances.’ The power to order remand ‘for

such further proceedings as may be just under the circumstances,’ in our view, permits us

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People v. Sheppard CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sheppard-ca42-calctapp-2014.