People v. Villalobos CA3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 22, 2013
DocketC072755
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Villalobos CA3 (People v. Villalobos CA3) 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. Villalobos CA3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 11/22/13 P. v. Villalobos CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Shasta) ----

THE PEOPLE, C072755

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 12F3930)

v.

RAMON DANIEL VILLALOBOS,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant Ramon Daniel Villalobos guilty of possessing marijuana for sale and transporting it, and possessing a switchblade knife. The trial court sustained four of six recidivist allegations. After denying defendant’s invitation to exercise its discretion to strike any of the prior conviction findings, the court then sentenced defendant to state prison for an indeterminate term of 26 years to life.

1 On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred in excluding testimony from his mother (a purported qualified medical marijuana patient)1 regarding his status as her primary caretaker,2 and in refusing to hold a foundational hearing regarding a proposed defense expert. He maintains that the evidence is insufficient to establish that a prior Illinois conviction comes within the meaning of Penal Code section 667, subdivision (d)(2).3 Finally, he asserts that the court erred in refusing to exercise its discretion to strike any of the prior conviction findings. (§ 1385.) We agree there is insufficient evidence to establish that the Illinois conviction comes within section 667, although this does not have any practical effect on his sentence. We otherwise shall affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In April 2012, a special agent assigned to the police department was on patrol in downtown Redding with a partner. Having observed the tattoos on the arms of the driver of a pickup truck, the agent made a U-turn and followed, determining that the brake light on the top of the pickup’s cab was inoperable. The agent decided to make a traffic stop.

Defendant was the lone occupant of the truck. He got out, and the agent’s partner frisked him. There was a switchblade in one of defendant’s pants pockets. In the other was $910 in cash. Searching the bed of the truck, the agent saw a duffle bag. Defendant admitted that the agent would find about a pound of marijuana belonging to him inside.

1 A person entitled to the protections of the Compassionate Use Act (CUA), enacted via initiative in 1996 as Health and Safety Code section 11362.5. (Id., § 11362.7, subd. (f).) 2 An individual whom a qualified patient designates as the person who has consistently assumed responsibility for the patient’s housing, health, or safety. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.5, subd. (e).) The same definition appears in the Medical Marijuana Program Act (MMP Act) (id., § 11362.7 et seq.). (Id., § 11362.7, subd. (d).) 3 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Inside the duffle bag was a plastic bag labeled “470” and “Black Mamba” containing a little less than one pound of marijuana. There were also a small glass jar and a plastic container with more marijuana buds. The agent also seized a cellular phone from the truck’s cab.

After being advised of his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694], defendant agreed to speak with the agent. He was taking a pound of marijuana to get money for his girlfriend and for rent. He was broke, and his girlfriend, who was pregnant, had not been working. Half of the money in his pocket was from work, and half was from selling marijuana. Defendant later told the agent that the seized marijuana was not for purpose of sales; defendant had a doctor’s recommendation for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes (although he did not have it with him), and he was returning this medicinal marijuana to the “co-op” because it was “bad.” He did not mention anything about taking the seeds in the marijuana to any co-op, or about being in the process of helping his mother with her marijuana needs.

There were many texts and pictures retrieved from the cellular phone. We do not need to relate all the details contained in the briefs of the parties. Suffice it to say that a prosecution witness asserted that the context of these, including those on the day of defendant’s arrest, involved the sales of marijuana. Among these were a text message earlier on the afternoon of the arrest that had included a picture of defendant holding the plastic bag seized from his duffle bag, in which he asserted that he had “Hit pay dirt,” had as many as needed at “[$]1,000 a pop,” and said he would “come see you with one.” Shortly before his arrest, defendant had also texted a caution that he would “Just bring one or two because the other was moldy inside.”

The defense attempted to provide an innocent context for the contents of the cell phone, asserting that they referred only to defendant’s legal purchase of marijuana (and not sales) or to work-related communications. Again, we do not need to elaborate on the

3 details of the testimony of defendant or his coworker, as we presume the jury resolved these evidentiary conflicts against defendant (People v. Mack (1992) 11 Cal.App.4th 1466, 1468); in this respect, as we note in the Discussion, the trial court specifically commented at sentencing that it believed defendant’s testimony lacked any credibility whatsoever.

With respect to other defense evidence, his parole agent attested that defendant was authorized to possess up to eight ounces of marijuana on his person for medicinal purposes and grow up to six plants. A roommate testified she paid him $400 for rent in $100 bills a couple of days before his arrest.

Defendant testified he lived in an apartment around the corner from his mother’s. She was 63, and had a number of health issues for which medical marijuana was recommended. As she had lung problems, she could not smoke it; she ingested it instead. Defendant visited her on a daily basis; he assisted her husband, who “does everything for her,”4 in caring for her. This included housekeeping, handyman tasks, health care, and administering her marijuana.

Defendant had familiarized himself with the parameters of authorized medical marijuana usage. He was a member of a medical marijuana co-op, in which he could bring in marijuana for “in-store” credit from the co-op’s garden; he and his mother shared their allocation from the co-op.

On the weekend before his arrest, defendant had stopped at his mother’s house. She had thrown out marijuana in her garbage can and in the dumpster because it had too many stems for ingestible marijuana. He retrieved this (along with other discards

4 Although the parties do not refer us to any testimony at trial in this respect, the mother testified at the foundational hearing at issue in the Discussion that the county paid her husband under Welfare and Institutions Code section 12300 et seq. to be her in-home caregiver.

4 collected in a bag), sifted through it to collect what was usable, and intended to bring the remainder to the co-op to exchange it for replacement marijuana. He was in the process of taking it to the co-op when the agent stopped him. Half of the contents of the bag belonged to him and half to his mother. (He did not explain either how his half came to be part of what his mother threw away, or came to be admixed with what his mother threw away.) He did not have any intent to sell the marijuana in the bag. He was also going to distribute the seeds in the bag to various co-ops.

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Villalobos CA3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-villalobos-ca3-calctapp-2013.