People v. Vinson CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 5, 2015
DocketB247084
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Vinson CA2/3 (People v. Vinson 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. Vinson CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 3/5/15 P. v. Vinson CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B247084

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA389030) v.

RICKY RAY VINSON,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, William N. Sterling, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions. Peter Gold, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Mary Sanchez and Jonathan J. Kline, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_________________________ Defendant and appellant, Ricky Ray Vinson, appeals his conviction for first degree murder with firearm use and gang enhancements (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 12022.53, 186.22, subd. (b)).1 He was sentenced to state prison for a term of 50 years to life. The judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part. BACKGROUND Viewed in accordance with the usual rule of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206), the evidence established the following. 1. The shooting. Christopher Lee testified that on August 28, 2008, at about 12:15 a.m., he was leaving a liquor store near the corner of Vernon Avenue and Wall Street when he witnessed a robbery. Two Hispanic men had pinned an African-American man to the ground and were going through his pockets. When the robbers noticed Lee, they came over and one of them grabbed him. Lee broke free and started running. Just then Lee spotted defendant Vinson in a car and flagged him down. Lee and Vinson were both members of the Four Trey Gangster Crips gang. Lee got into Vinson’s car and said two men had tried to rob him. As they drove back to the liquor store, Vinson asked Lee to hold his gun. When Lee saw the two robbers, he and Vinson got out of the car. Vinson asked one of them if he remembered him. The man responded by swinging at Vinson and a fist fight ensued. Meanwhile, Lee put Vinson’s gun in the glove box. Vinson returned to his car, grabbed the gun and shot and killed one of the robbers. Vinson later told Lee “he didn’t like the Hispanic dude” and the shooting happened “because he had got into it before at that same liquor store.” Lee pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for a six-year prison term and a promise to testify truthfully at Vinson’s trial. Luis Ramirez testified he had gone to the liquor store that night and, on the way home, ran into his friend Lester Pineda, who was with another Hispanic man. Ramirez continued home and shortly thereafter saw Pineda walking toward the corner of 45th

1 All further references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.

2 Street and Wall. A car with two occupants pulled up. Vinson, the driver, got out and began to argue with Pineda, saying something like “[Y]ou want to fuck with my homies[?]” Vinson then returned to the car, retrieved a gun and shot Pineda in the chest. After Pineda collapsed onto the ground, Vinson shot him three more times and then drove off. That same night, Gloria Rosales was at home on the corner of 45th Street and Wall. She saw Pineda and another Hispanic man; they seemed panicked and looked like they were trying to hide. A car drove up. The driver got out, asked Pineda why he was “tripping on his homie.” Pineda said “nobody was tripping,” and the driver said he didn’t want to see Pineda “in his block anymore.” The driver returned to his car, was handed a gun by the passenger, and then shot Pineda. The driver started back to his car, but then returned and shot Pineda three more times. 2. Gang evidence. In March 2004, Officer David Haskins was on patrol in the area of 45th and Main when he saw an African-American man spray painting graffiti on a building wall. When Haskins pulled up, the man dropped the spray can and got into a car. Haskins stopped the car, which was being driven by Vinson. On the car’s floorboard there was a spray can similar to the one which had been dropped near the wall. The wall graffiti read: “EXSTSIDE 43/2 GC,” “AVONK” and “BGUMK.” The letters AVONK also had an X drawn through them. In March 2006, Vinson told Officer Sharlton Wampler that he belonged to the Four Trey Gangster Crips. Officer Alfred Garcia, a gang expert, monitors the Four Trey Gangster Crips. Garcia testified gangs mark their territory with graffiti and commit crimes to instill fear in the community. In Garcia’s opinion, both Vinson and Lee had been members of the Four Trey Gangster Crips in 2008. Given a hypothetical question tracking the facts of this case, Garcia opined the shooting had been committed for the benefit of the Four Trey Gangster Crips.

3 CONTENTIONS 1. The trial court erred by discharging a juror midway through the trial. 2. The prosecutor committed misconduct by showing a photographic lineup to a witness before having him view a live lineup. 3. The trial court erred by admitting evidence about one of Vinson’s gang tattoos. 4. By the Attorney General: The trial court failed to impose two mandated monetary assessments as part of Vinson’s sentence. DISCUSSION 1. Trial court had good cause to discharge a juror for sleeping. Vinson contends the trial court erred by excusing one of the jurors prior to deliberations without good cause. This claim is meritless. a. Background. At the conclusion of testimony from Dr. Fraser, the defense eyewitness identification expert, Juror No. 1 was sound asleep and had to be shaken awake. Dr. Fraser told the trial court that the juror had been asleep during his testimony both that day and the day before. The court asked if either side wanted to have the juror discharged for falling asleep, saying: “If there’s no motion to dismiss him from either side, then I’ll leave him on.” Neither side asked for dismissal. Two days later, other members of the jury informed the court that Juror No. 1 had been sleeping, talking to himself and making distracting noises. Some jurors complained their own ability to concentrate was being impaired, others that the behavior had simply been annoying, and others had not noticed anything. While conferring with counsel, the trial court said, “I note for the record that I was watching him today and there were a few occasions where he was not only yawning deeply, but throwing his head back so he was looking backward and up at the ceiling during testimony and yawning deeply while testimony was going on.” Regarding the earlier incident during Dr. Fraser’s testimony, the trial court said: “[Juror No. 1] was sound asleep. None of us could rouse him by talking to him. He had to be shaken. And even then, I was afraid he might have had a heart attack or something because he was so 4 unresponsive even when he was being shaken.” The trial court questioned whether the juror was “hear[ing] all of the evidence.” Juror No. 1 was then questioned. He claimed to have slept through only two minutes of Dr. Fraser’s testimony and that this had been the only time he failed to pay attention. He said he was not angry or upset about being questioned by the court. After Juror No. 1 exited the courtroom, the trial court announced there was good cause to dismiss Juror No. 1 over defense counsel’s objection. The court said it had refrained from discharging the juror earlier only “because the defense said they wanted to keep him,” but now “there’s been more things that have come to light. . . .

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People v. Vinson CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-vinson-ca23-calctapp-2015.