People v. Toriz CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 28, 2016
DocketB259405
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Toriz CA2/3 (People v. Toriz CA2/3) 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. Toriz CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 3/28/16 P. v. Toriz CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THREE

THE PEOPLE, B259405

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KA105451) v.

GARRICK NEIL TORIZ,

Defendant and Appellant. _____________________________________ In re B266790

on

Habeas Corpus.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Robert M. Martinez, Judge. Convictions affirmed. Habeas corpus petition denied. Remanded for resentencing. Maggie Shrout, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey and Andrew S. Pruitt, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Defendant and appellant Garrick Neil Toriz raises a contention of prosecutorial misconduct following his convictions of unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle, and willfully evading a police officer, with prior prison term findings. The People raise a contention of sentencing error. In an accompanying habeas corpus petition, Toriz contends his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to the alleged prosecutorial misconduct. For the reasons discussed below, the convictions are affirmed, the habeas corpus petition is denied, and the matter is remanded to the trial court for resentencing. BACKGROUND Viewed in accordance with the usual rules of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206), the evidence established the following. 1. Prosecution evidence. a. The traffic stop. On January 20, 2014,1 Mario Perez was at home when his mother’s black Toyota Camry was stolen from his driveway. Perez pursued in another car, but the Camry got away. Perez could not give the police a description of the thief. On January 23, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Officer Matt Bowman of the West Covina Police Department spotted a black Toyota Camry without a license plate and pulled the car over. As Bowman exited his vehicle, the Camry sped off. Bowman jumped back into his patrol car and pursued, with his overhead lights and siren engaged. The Camry ran a stop sign and sped through a residential area. The Camry entered a cul- de-sac, where it slowed down, began to coast at about 10 miles per hour, and then hit a tree. Just before the collision, the male driver and a female passenger hopped out of the still-moving Camry and fled down an alleyway. Bowman pursued on foot. He could see that the driver was a Hispanic man, about five feet five inches to five feet seven inches tall, with very short hair. The driver eluded Bowman by jumping over a wall, but

1 All further date references are to the year 2014, unless otherwise specified.

2 Bowman apprehended the passenger. Bowman found two open beer cans in the Camry’s center console, one of which had Toriz’s fingerprints on it. The passenger identified herself as Brenda L. and said she lived at 532 Mangate in La Puente. Brenda told Bowman that the man driving the Camry was her boyfriend, Jason Martinez. Brenda was taken into custody. b. Brenda’s jailhouse phone conversations. While in custody on January 23 and 24, Brenda made a series of telephone calls to her sister Lisa and to her mother. It appears from these conversations that Brenda lied to Bowman about who had been driving the Camry. During one phone call on January 23, Brenda asked: “You guys already told them his . . . name, no?,” to which Lisa replied, “Yeah, we did.” In another January 23 call Brenda said, “I don’t know how they know, but (unintelligible) asked me if he has tattoos on his face. And I told them no, but he does.” A call on January 24 contained this exchange: “[Lisa]: OK but Brenda you have got to tell them that he was in the car with you. “[Brenda]: I’m not telling them his name. “[Lisa]: You . . . “[Brenda]: It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to tell on anybody, Lisa. “[Lisa]: No no, I know but Brenda listen. “[Brenda]: I’m not going to put my family in jeopardy. I’m not putting myself in jeopardy. It doesn’t matter.” In another exchange, Lisa herself referred to threats: “[Lisa]: [H]e was like I know where everybody in your mom’s house sleeps. “[Brenda]: So what? So what? “[Lisa]: So he’s threatening our family Brenda. “[Brenda]: And I’m not going to tell on him.” When Lisa said, “Brenda, what you really need to do is just tell the truth,” Brenda replied, “I’m not going to tell on him.” In another call, Brenda told Lisa: “What happens if I give them the name? And then they go, they get him, and they find out I gave him the name. Then us, the whole family, is fucked because I’m a snitch.”

3 In another exchange, Lisa asked: “[Lisa]: To who? They’re going to tell Garrick [Toriz]? Hey Garrick, by the way, Brenda snitched on you? “[Brenda]: Yeah. They will. They will. Because I’ve seen it happen before. “[Lisa]: Well let me tell you. Mom already called . . . the police saying hey this is Garrick, Garrick came and picked her up in the car and took her.” In another call, Brenda spoke to her mother: “[Mother]: Do you know he’s out running around? He got away. “[Brenda]: I know, I don’t care. And if they go to the house, don’t tell them his name. “[Mother]: Why? “[Brenda]: [B]ecause I said so. “[Mother]: No, that’s stupid. I’m not protecting him. “[Brenda]: It’s . . . Jason. “[Mother]: Huh? What? “[Brenda]: Jason took it. “[Mother]: Who . . . I don’t even know who that is. “[Brenda]: Exactly.” In another exchange, Brenda’s mother urged her: “[Mother]: You need to get smart baby[.] “[Brenda]: I’m not going to give them his name. That’s the end of it. Jason lent him the car, and I’m not going to tell them anything more. “[Mother]: And did you tell them this Jason’s last name? “[Brenda]: Yes. “[Mother]: Yeah. Then why is Garrick running? “[Brenda]: They can’t find Jason in the system. “[Mother]: Then why is Garrick running then? “[Brenda]: I don’t know but he has a clean record, stop saying people’s names on the phone.”

4 c. Brenda’s vacillating statements about who was driving the Camry. On January 25, the day following these telephone conversations, Brenda told Officer Bowman that it was her boyfriend, Garrick Toriz, who had been driving the Camry. Brenda said she invented the name “Jason Martinez” because she was afraid a local gang might try to punish her for fingering Toriz. At trial, however, Brenda reversed herself again, testifying that although she had been at Toriz’s house in Whittier earlier that day, it was Jason Martinez – not Toriz – who had been driving the Camry when Bowman made the traffic stop. Brenda testified that at about 12:30 p.m. on January 23, Toriz picked her up from her mother’s house in a black Lexus. They stopped at a store to purchase two beers before driving to Toriz’s residence in Whittier. When they got to his house, Brenda gave the two unopened beer cans to Toriz, who put them in the refrigerator. Later, Brenda and Toriz argued about the possibility that he was going to have a baby with another woman. Brenda stormed out of Toriz’s house at about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., taking the two beer cans with her. She began walking home. While she was walking, she got a phone call from Jason Martinez (who had been calling her all day) and she asked him to give her a ride. Martinez picked Brenda up in a black Toyota Camry and they drove around drinking the two beers until Bowman made the traffic stop.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Toriz CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-toriz-ca23-calctapp-2016.