People v. Taylor CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 17, 2020
DocketE072088
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Taylor CA4/2 (People v. Taylor 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. Taylor CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 8/14/20 P. v. Taylor 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, E072088

v. (Super.Ct.No. RIF1705016)

DANIEL TAYLOR, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. William S. Lebov, Judge.

(Retired judge of the Yolo Super. Ct. assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to art. VI,

§ 6 of the Cal. Const.) Affirmed with directions.

Patricia L. Brisbois, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina and Amanda

E. Casillas, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 A jury convicted defendant and appellant Daniel Taylor of four counts of robbery

for his participation in separate robberies of a Sprint store (counts 4 & 5) and a Verizon

store (counts 1 & 2) and one count of leading the police on a highspeed chase after the

Verizon store heist (count 3). The jury found true firearm enhancement allegations for

each robbery count, and defendant admitted he suffered prior convictions, including two

strikes. The trial court dismissed one of defendant’s strike priors in the interest of justice

and sentenced him to state prison for 25 years four months.

On appeal, defendant argues his convictions on counts 4 and 5 must be reversed

because his trial attorney rendered ineffective assistance of counsel by not objecting

when the prosecutor introduced testimony of an investigating officer who identified

defendant, from a video, as one of the Sprint store robbers. In addition, defendant

contends the trial court erred during sentencing by imposing full one-year terms for the

gun enhancements tied to subordinate counts (counts 2, 4, & 5), instead of one-third the

term, and the court erred by imposing certain fines and fees without first determining his

ability to pay, as mandated by People v. Dueñas (2019) 30 Cal.App.5th 1157 (Dueñas).

We conclude defendant’s trial attorney provided effective assistance of counsel by

not interposing a futile objection to properly admitted lay witness testimony identifying

defendant as one of the robbers of the Sprint store and, Dueñas error during sentencing, if

any, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. The People concede, and we agree, the

trial court erred by imposing full one-year terms for the firearm enhancements tied to

subordinate counts. We will modify the sentence on those enhancements and affirm the

judgment as modified.

2 I.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

On the afternoon of October 19, 2017, A.R. was working as a sales associate at a

Sprint store in Moreno Valley, when a man—later identified as Jamahd McCoy2—

entered the store and asked about service. A.R. described McCoy as “5-7, skinny guy,

young guy, African-American guy like me.” McCoy said he would probably come back

later and left the store. A.R. went into a locked back room, where his supervisor G.C.

was performing an inventory count, then walked back to the front of the store. About a

minute and a half later, McCoy ran back into the store, pulled out a semiautomatic

handgun, and pointed it at A.R. McCoy said something about shooting A.R. and told him

to open the back room. A.R. tried to open the back room door, but he was scared and had

trouble entering the code on a keypad. McCoy said, “If you keep messing around, I’m

going to shoot you.”

When A.R. finally unlocked the door to the back room, he opened the door and

said to G.C., “he’s got a gun.” McCoy pointed his gun at G.C. and said, “Get down” and

“Don’t look at me.” A.R. and G.C. got down on the floor. Another African-American

1 Because defendant does not challenge his convictions for robbing the Verizon store (counts 1 & 2) or his conviction for leading the police on a highspeed chase after that robbery (count 3), we need not set forth the facts of those offenses, including the testimony of the sole witness called by the defense.

2 McCoy pleaded guilty before trial and is not a party to this appeal.

3 man entered the store, walked into the back room, and kicked A.R.’s foot out of the way

because it was holding the door open. When the door closed, McCoy and the other man

said, “Just don’t do anything stupid,” and “Don’t look at us and everything will be all

right.”3 The second man had bags and ties in his hands, and the two men filled the bags

with “83 or 85” phones. After taking the phones, the two men asked where the money

was. Fearing she might get shot, G.C. gave them $400 from the cash registers. G.C.

testified she did not recognize defendant as being the second man who entered the back

room, and A.R. testified he did not see the second man’s face. Video footage taken

during the robbery of the Sprint store was played for the jury.

Investigator Sinclair of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was assigned to

investigate the Sprint store robbery and collected the surveillance video. He watched the

video “dozens of times,” “looking for any unique investigative options to pursue

including clothing, weapons, identification of persons, . . . actions, mannerisms, vehicles,

you name it.” When defendant and another man were arrested on the day of the

December 4, 2017 robbery of the Verizon store and the highspeed chase, Sinclair had the

opportunity to see defendant in person. Sinclair described defendant as African-

American, about six-foot-one-inch tall, and weighing over 250 pounds. He also testified

defendant was born in December 1970, meaning he was almost 47 years old at the time

of the Sprint store robbery. Sinclair instantly recognized defendant from the video.

3 G.C. testified she saw McCoy, and she described him as African-American and “maybe like early 20s.” She also described the second man as African-American and “[p]robably about the same age,” but added, “[i]t was so fast,” and “I didn’t see him very well.”

4 After seeing defendant in person, Sinclair reviewed the video again “and uniquely

identified [defendant] by what he carried himself as, [how] he walked, his unique facial

features, [and] his build.” Defendant was wearing a hat and sunglasses during the

robbery. Although the cameras did not capture defendant’s face directly from the front,

Sinclair testified the portion of the video showing defendant entering the inventory room

captured “his profile, his unique chin line, and [the] lower part of his face was very clear

once you do a frame by frame continuous analysis of it.” Sinclair also testified the

second man in the video had “a very upright and vertical walk” and swung his arms in

front of him in a nontraditional way. Sinclair observed defendant walk the same way in

person.

On cross-examination, Sinclair testified he did not take measurements of

defendant’s neck or note how long his arms were when comparing him to the second man

depicted in the video.

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People v. Taylor CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-taylor-ca42-calctapp-2020.