People v. Tooker CA1/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 13, 2020
DocketA154181A
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Tooker CA1/1 (People v. Tooker CA1/1) 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. Tooker CA1/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Filed 10/13/20 P. v. Tooker CA1/1 Opinion following transfer from Supreme Court NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A154181 v. CHARLES TOOKER, (Marin County Super. Ct. No. SC197709A) Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted defendant Charles Tooker of attempted murder, criminal threats, and other crimes after he attacked his ex-girlfriend, M.A., and stabbed her with pruning shears. The trial court sentenced him to 16 years in prison. On appeal, Tooker raises a litany of claims, including that the court erred in (1) finding he was competent to stand trial; (2) admitting evidence of his prior domestic violence under Evidence Code section 1109, and giving a related jury instruction about that evidence; (3) failing to give a jury instruction on the defense of unconsciousness; and (4) giving a jury instruction on attempted voluntary manslaughter. He also claims that Penal Code section 422, the criminal-threats statute, is unconstitutionally vague; that a remand is necessary for a consideration of his eligibility for mental health diversion under Penal Code section 1001.36, which went into effect after he was sentenced; and that the court erred by imposing certain charges

1 without a determination of his ability to pay them, in contravention of People v. Dueñas (2019) 30 Cal.App.5th 1157.1 This court rejected Tooker’s claims and affirmed the judgment on December 9, 2019. (People v. Tooker (Dec. 9, 2019, A154181) [nonpub. opn.].) The following month, Tooker filed a petition for review in the California Supreme Court raising several claims, including that this court should have conditionally reversed and remanded the case for a determination of his eligibility for mental health diversion. In March 2020, the Supreme Court granted the petition and deferred further action pending its decision in People v. Frahs, S252220. The Supreme Court filed its decision in Frahs in June 2020, holding that section 1001.36 applies retroactively to all defendants whose judgments were not yet final at the time the statute took effect and that the appropriate disposition is generally to conditionally reverse a defendant’s convictions and remand for the trial court to consider whether to place the defendant on mental health diversion. (People v. Frahs (2020) 9 Cal.5th 618, 624–625, 640–641 (Frahs).) In so holding, the Supreme Court rejected the Attorney General’s argument that remand would be futile in that case “because the trial court [had] already made findings that cast [the] defendant as unsuitable for diversion,” including a finding under California Rules of Court, rule 4.423(b)(2), that the defendant was not “ ‘suffering from a mental . . . condition that significantly reduced culpability for’ his crimes.” (Frahs, at p. 638, quoting Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.423(b)(2).)2

1All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted. 2 All further rule references are to the California Rules of Court.

2 On August 26, 2020, the Supreme Court remanded Tooker’s case to us with directions to vacate our prior decision and reconsider the matter in light of Frahs. In supplemental briefing, Tooker argues that our prior reliance on the trial court’s finding under rule 4.423(b)(2) to conclude that remand was futile was incorrect under Frahs. The Attorney General effectively agrees, but he argues that we can still conclude remand would be futile for a different reason left open by Frahs: that “the record clearly indicates the trial court would have found the defendant ‘pose[s] an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety’ ” under section 1001.36, subdivision (b)(1)(F). (Frahs, supra, 9 Cal.5th at p. 640.) But we rejected this basis for futility in our previous opinion, and Frahs gives us no reason to reconsider our analysis on this point. Accordingly, we vacate our decision of December 9, 2019, conditionally reverse the judgment, and remand for the trial court to consider in the first instance whether Tooker is eligible for mental health diversion under section 1001.36. If the court denies diversion, Tooker shall also have the opportunity on remand to raise his claim that he does not have the ability to pay certain charges. The Supreme Court’s order does not affect any other aspects of our previous decision, and we therefore reach the same conclusions as to the other claims Tooker raises. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Tooker’s Relationship with M.A. Tooker and M.A. began dating at the end of 2009, when they both lived in Ohio. M.A. testified that she and Tooker “weren’t compatible” and “it had always been a violent relationship on both sides.” Tooker, who testified in his own defense, agreed that the relationship was volatile and they were

3 “psychologically assaultive towards each other,” but he claimed that M.A. was always “the physical aggressor.” M.A. testified that Tooker hit her for the first time in November 2011, after they went to a football game in Cincinnati. They had been “drinking heavily,” and M.A. could not find her cell phone. She became upset because the phone had her niece’s baby pictures on it, and Tooker told her “to get over it.” When she and Tooker returned to their hotel room, he pinned her down, she “kicked him in the crotch to get him off [her],” and he punched her in the nose, breaking it. But according to Tooker, M.A.’s kicking of him was unprovoked, and she hurt her nose after she threatened to jump out the window and slipped on the windowsill. About a year later, in November 2012, M.A. and Tooker moved to California. At the end of that month, they began living in a San Rafael apartment rented by M.A., who was working as a pharmacist. The two had been fighting before they arrived in San Rafael, but M.A. thought they had “kind of settled it.” But soon after, while she was at work in Placerville, she received a call from the Marin Humane Society saying that her dog was there. She was unable to reach Tooker by phone, so she went back to San Rafael and picked up the dog, who was microchipped but had been “let loose without a collar.” M.A. testified that when she returned to her apartment, the windows were smashed out, the walls were damaged, and “it was totally trashed.” Tooker admitted to her that he had caused the damage, which totaled approximately $30,000, and apologized for his issues with anger and alcohol.3 Soon afterward, he moved back to Ohio, but he and M.A. remained in a long-distance relationship.

3 Tooker testified that he caused the damage because he was mad that he and M.A. “weren’t carrying out the agreements that [they] had,” including to stay sober, but he did not contradict her testimony about the event.

4 In August 2013, Tooker moved back to California, and he stayed with M.A. while he looked for an apartment. A few weeks after arriving, he hit M.A. again, precipitating the end of their relationship. The two had driven to Berkeley to shop, and M.A. had to take a work call and was gone for about 10 minutes. When she came back, Tooker, who had been drinking throughout the morning, was “agitated.” He got into the car, hit M.A., and directed her to drive home.

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People v. Tooker CA1/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-tooker-ca11-calctapp-2020.