People v. Turner CA1/3

California Court of Appeal·Decided March 4, 2021·No. A156920·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 3/4/21 P. v. Turner CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THREE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A156920 v. TAJIRI HAMISI TURNER, JR., (San Mateo County Defendant and Appellant. Super. Ct. No. SC082805A)

This is the second appeal in this case, which comes to us after the trial court resentenced Tajiri Hamisi Turner, Jr., to a term of 144 years to life in prison.1 Turner again appeals. He challenges, on equal protection grounds, Penal Code section 3051, subdivision (h),2 which excludes youth offenders sentenced pursuant to the “Three Strikes” law (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12)—such as Turner—from early youth offender parole consideration. Turner also contends the court failed to award him 84 additional days of presentence conduct credits, as directed by this court in our prior opinion. (Turner, supra, A148401, p. 13.) We will modify the judgment to award

This court granted Turner’s motion for judicial notice of our opinion in 1

the first appeal (People v. Turner (June 1, 2018, A148401) [nonpub. opn.] (Turner)).

2 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Turner 84 days of presentence conduct credits. In all other respects, we will affirm.

BACKGROUND

Given the nature of Turner’s appellate claims, we need only briefly recount the facts, which were summarized in detail in this court’s prior opinion. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 1–5.)

Turner “was charged with robbing three cell phone stores in San Mateo County using a similar modus operandi. The first such robbery occurred at a Radio Shack . . . on February 13, 2014; the second at another Radio Shack . . . on May 14, 2014; and the third at a Verizon store . . . on September 3, 2014.” (Turner, supra, A148401, p. 2.) In all three incidents, Turner allegedly entered the various retail stores; pointed a gun at the workers, each of whom was working alone; and instructed the workers to fill his duffel bag with cell phones. The workers complied. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 2–4.)

During the first incident, Turner ordered the worker, M.M., to sit down and warned her against calling the police after she filled his duffel bag with the cell phones. Turner then told M.M. that he was taking her purse so that he would know where she lived and that if she called the police he would kill her and harm her family. M.M. subsequently suffered from anxiety and required therapy. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 2–3.)

During the second incident, Turner locked the worker, D.R., in the cage where the cell phones were kept and left with the filled duffel bag. D.R. was able to retrieve his phone from inside the cage and call the police, who arrived and let him out of the cage. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 3–4.)

As for the third incident, the worker, Y.M., was able to escape through the back door and screamed for help. Y.M. suffered from fear and nightmares as a result of the incident. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 3–4.)

In addition to these incidents, “[t]he prosecution also presented evidence that defendant committed three additional cell phone store robberies, in San Francisco, San Mateo and Alameda Counties, respectively.” (Turner, supra, A148401, p. 2.)

The operative amended information charged Turner with three counts of kidnapping to commit robbery (§ 209, subd. (b)(1)) (counts one, four, and six); three counts of second degree robbery (§ 212.5, subd. (c)) (counts two, five, and seven); one count of dissuading a witness by force or threat (§ 136.1, subds. (b)(1), (c)(1)) (count three); one count of resisting an officer by force or violence (§ 69) (count eight); and two counts of simple kidnapping (§ 207, subd. (a)) (counts nine and ten).

The amended information also alleged numerous enhancements, including two prior robbery convictions qualifying as strikes (§§ 667, subds. (a)(1) & (d), 1170.12, subds. (b) & (c)(2)) (all counts); two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)) (all counts); and use of a deadly or dangerous weapon in the commission of the underlying felonies (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) (all counts but count eight).

Turner moved for an acquittal on the kidnapping to commit robbery counts charged in counts one, four, and six. The trial court granted the motion as to counts one and six.

After a trial, the jury found Turner guilty of remaining counts two through five, seven, nine, and ten. Count eight was dismissed after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The jury found true all enhancement

allegations. The trial court found true the prior convictions and prior prison terms allegations. The court sentenced Turner to 144 years to life in prison.3 On appeal, this court reversed the convictions for kidnapping charged in counts nine and ten and the allegations associated with those charges. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 10–12.) We also remanded the matter with instructions to the trial court to award Turner 84 days of presentence conduct credits, in addition to the 563 days of credit for actual time served in custody. (Turner, supra, A148401, pp. 12–13.)

On remand, the trial court dismissed counts nine and ten and the accompanying enhancement allegations. Turner renewed his motion for dismissal of his strike priors, pursuant to section 1385 and People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero). The court declined to strike the prior convictions.

During resentencing, the court imposed the same aggregate sentence of 144 years to life in prison. On count four, kidnapping for robbery (§ 209, subd. (b)(1)), which was designated as the principal term, the court sentenced Turner to a term of 36 years to life. This term consisted of 25 years to life, imposed pursuant to the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subd. (e), 1170.12, subd. (c)), plus a one-year consecutive term for using a deadly or dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and consecutive terms of five years for each of the two serious felony priors (§ 667, subd. (a)).

The court imposed the same term of 36 years to life consecutively for three other counts: counts two (robbery; § 212.5, subd. (c)), three (dissuading a witness; § 136.1, subds. (b)(1), (c)(1)), and seven (robbery; § 212.5, subd. (c)).

3 Turner filed an augmented clerk’s transcript on appeal which contains documents related to his original sentence and a confidential probation officer’s report.

The court imposed but stayed the same term for count five, as well as the accompanying allegations, pursuant to section 654.

The court awarded Turner 563 days plus 1,106 days of credit for actual time served in custody since he was originally sentenced on March 18, 2016. This timely appeal followed.4 While this appeal was pending, Turner submitted a letter to the trial court, a copy of which we received, indicating the court neglected to award him the 84 additional days of presentence custody credits as directed in our prior opinion. He requested that we modify the amended abstract of judgment to include the credits. We have received no opposition from the People regarding Turner’s request for modification of the amended abstract of judgment.

DISCUSSION

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