People v. Trent

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 24, 2025
DocketC096306A
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Trent (People v. Trent) 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. Trent, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 6/24/25; on transfer CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION*

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (San Joaquin) ----

THE PEOPLE, C096306

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. STK-CR-FE- 1997-0006966) v. OPINION ON TRANSFER PATRICK ALLEN TRENT,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County, Lauren P. Thomasson, Judge. Reversed in part and affirmed in part.

The Law Office of Brad K. Kaiserman and Brad K. Kaiserman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Erin Doering, Eric L. Christoffersen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

* Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 8.1105 and 8.1110, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts II and III.

1 In 1999, a jury convicted defendant Patrick Allen Trent of first degree murder (Pen. Code,1 § 187) and street terrorism (§ 186.22, subd. (a)), but found not true the enhancements that defendant had personally used a knife (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), and that the murder had been committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang. (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1).) The trial court sentenced defendant to 25 years to life plus eight months. This court affirmed that judgment in an unpublished opinion in 2001.2 (Vasquez, supra, C032492).) Defendant’s first degree murder conviction was later reduced to second degree murder in light of People v. Chiu (2014) 59 Cal.4th 155, resulting in the reduction of defendant’s aggregate term to 15 years to life plus eight months. Thereafter, in July 2020, defendant filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to former section 1170.95 (now section 1172.6),3 which the trial court granted in a written ruling issued on February 28, 2022. On March 28, 2022, the trial court redesignated the murder conviction as assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury with a great bodily injury enhancement and resentenced defendant to an aggregate term of six years eight months, comprised of: the middle term of three years for the felony assault, plus three years consecutive for the great bodily injury enhancement, plus a consecutive eight months (one-third the middle term) for the street terrorism conviction. Defendant timely appealed, complaining that the trial court prejudicially erred in: (1) failing to retroactively apply Assembly Bill No. 333 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.)

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 We granted defendant’s motion to incorporate by reference the appellate record in People v. Vasquez et al. (Sept. 25, 2001, C032492) (nonpub. opn.) (Vasquez). (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.147(b).) 3 Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered former section 1170.95 to section 1172.6. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) There were no substantive changes to the statute. Defendant filed his petition under former section 1170.95, but we will cite to current section 1172.6 throughout this opinion.

2 (Assembly Bill No. 333) (Stats. 2021, ch. 699) to his substantive gang conviction and (2) imposing a great bodily injury enhancement to the redesignated offense. Finally, defendant requested that we correct the abstract of judgment to reflect that defendant’s convictions were by jury, rather than by plea. The People opposed defendant’s first two arguments, but agreed the abstract of judgment requires correction. In October 2023, we issued a partially published decision agreeing with defendant that he was entitled to the retroactive application of Assembly Bill No. 333, requiring reversal of his section 186.22 conviction and remand for further proceedings. (People v. Trent (2023) 96 Cal.App.5th 33 (Trent).) In the unpublished portion of our opinion, we agreed with the parties that the abstract of judgment should be corrected to reflect conviction by jury. We otherwise affirmed the judgment. (Ibid.) Both parties appealed, and the California Supreme Court remanded the matter with directions to vacate our opinion and reconsider the cause in light of People v. Arellano (2024) 16 Cal.5th 457 (Arellano). Having done so, we again grant defendant’s requests to correct the abstract of judgment and reverse his section 186.22 conviction. We will also vacate defendant’s great bodily injury enhancement and remand the matter for further proceedings. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. The Underlying Murder We summarize the evidence from our previous appellate opinion for context. Defendant and his codefendant Nico Luciano Vasquez were convicted of murdering Primotivo Villasana, a heroin addict and former member of “Northern Structure,” a criminal street gang. The People theorized “the murder was the gang execution of a dropout to advance the defendants’ status in Northern Structure.” (Vasquez, supra, C032492.) In support of this theory, the People presented evidence that Tony Giminez, the leader of Northern Structure in Stockton who had turned state’s evidence, identified defendant and Vasquez as Villasana’s killers. Defendant and Vasquez killed Villasana because he was on the gang’s “hit list.” (Ibid.)

3 Vasquez’s former girlfriend B.T.4 testified that Vazquez and defendant helped her move into an apartment near the murder scene on the day of the murder. The pair ran into Villasana at the door to her apartment, and the three men stayed outside talking and drinking while B.T. unpacked her belongings. “Vasquez came into the apartment twice—once to get more beer, and once to take something she could not see from a kitchen drawer that contained knives. She later identified a broken knife handle and knife blade found at the scene, and testified her knives were not broken when she last saw them.” (Vasquez, supra, C032492.) “Vasquez told [B.T.] he was going for a walk around the corner. She watched defendants and Villasana head toward the park as it was starting to get dark. Vasquez returned about 45 minutes later, went to the drawer, and got a butcher knife with a wooden handle. He told [B.T.] the first knife had broken because it was too skinny. Vasquez said he needed the knife to take care of his business. [B.T.] testified Vasquez was mad, out of breath, but uninjured at the time. “Vasquez returned 15 or 20 minutes later, looking like he had been fighting. His shirt was torn, and he was bleeding. He had a bloody knife with him, which [B.T.] put in the sink. Vasquez told her to clean it with alcohol or Clorox. He also told [B.T.] to say she had not seen him if the police came. [B.T.] cleaned the wound on Vasquez’s hand, and put a towel over it. Vasquez took her car, saying he was going to take [defendant] home, then return. Vasquez did not return to the apartment that night. “[B.T.] saw Vasquez at his sister’s house several days after Villasana was killed. He showed [B.T.] a newspaper article about the murder and explained, ‘This is what I did last night.’ He said he threw the clothes he was wearing into a creek behind his mother’s house. Vasquez later told [B.T.] he cut Villasana’s throat, and one of the knives broke

4 To protect her privacy, we refer to the witness by her initials. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.90(b)(10)).

4 during the assault. Vasquez and [defendant] met with [B.T.] to discuss what to tell police about the night of the murder. “At some point after the murder, [B.T.] watched while [defendant] had a star tattooed under his eye. Vasquez said, ‘He’s a killer now.’ [B.T.] also heard Vasquez tell [defendant] ‘he done killed a man.’ ” (Vasquez, supra, C032492.) Xavier Lozano testified as part of a plea agreement. According to Lozano, “he previously held the highest position in Northern Structure, responsible for overall security inside and outside of prison.

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Related

In Re Estrada
408 P.2d 948 (California Supreme Court, 1965)
People v. Chiu
325 P.3d 972 (California Supreme Court, 2014)
People v. Buycks
422 P.3d 531 (California Supreme Court, 2018)
People v. Valenzuela
441 P.3d 896 (California Supreme Court, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Trent, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-trent-calctapp-2025.