People v. Ware CA2/5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 21, 2021
DocketB301990
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Ware CA2/5 (People v. Ware CA2/5) 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. Ware CA2/5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

Filed 4/21/21 P. v. Ware CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B301990

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. PA083082-01) v.

JAMES WARE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, David B. Gelfound, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions. Laini Millar Melnick, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and David A. Voet, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. This is the third time we confront an appeal in this case. (People v. Ware (May 30, 2017, B271291) [nonpub. opn.] [reversing the judgment for instructional error and permitting the People to accept a reduction of a criminal threats conviction to an attempted criminal threats conviction]; People v. Ware (Feb. 19, 2019, B287995) [nonpub. opn.] [affirming denial of a People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero) motion brought on remand but remanding again to give the trial court the opportunity to consider exercising its discretion to strike two five-year prior serious felony conviction enhancements].) We are now asked to decide whether reversal is required because the trial court declined to decide whether defendant James Ware (defendant) is entitled to retroactive consideration for mental health diversion (see generally People v. Frahs (2020) 9 Cal.5th 618 (Frahs)) and whether the trial court abused its discretion when opting not to strike the two sentencing enhancements.

I A We have previously summarized much of the history of this case. We reproduce that summary here as pertinent for our purposes. Early in the morning on February 26, 2015, defendant’s mother called 911 to report defendant was causing a disturbance at her house and refusing to leave the property. Defendant left the scene before the responding police officers arrived. Later that same morning, defendant’s brother Rick spoke to defendant by phone and recorded the call without telling defendant he was doing so. Rick placed the call on speakerphone so their mother, who was also in the house, could listen in.

2 Defendant said he wanted to come over to the house so he could eat, take his diabetes medication, and shower before going to school. Rick refused to give defendant permission to enter the house, explaining it was not his house (it was their mother’s) and reminding defendant he would “assault everybody” whenever he came over. Defendant then began arguing with Rick, and Rick repeatedly told defendant he should get counseling or enter a treatment program to address his substance abuse and mental health issues. Defendant eventually hung up on Rick. When defendant called Rick back, Rick again surreptitiously recorded their conversation. Defendant told Rick he was “so mad” and “really want[ed] that house to burn down.” Defendant elaborated, using even more vivid language: “I got a Molotov cocktail right here. I’ve got a lighter in my hand, Ricky. And—and I—I got a great big old 40-ounce bottle full of gas, and I’m going to burn your house down, man.” Rick responded by telling defendant “we really care about you” and “[w]e want you to go to counseling.” Defendant, however, was far from done. Over the next ten- plus minutes, he repeatedly threatened Rick and the other occupants of the house, stating at one point: “I hate you so much that I could really trap with you [sic] motherfuckers in there right now and burn that house down. That’s how I’m feeling right now. You know what I mean? But you want to talk to me about a fucking [counseling] program? [¶] . . . [¶] I’m tired of this motherfucking shit. I’m tired. You think I’m going to—the next time I go to jail, I just want you motherfuckers to know, yeah, I deserve that. So whatever life sentence I get or whoever die[s], whatever happen[s], man, you all—you all brought this shit on yourself, man, you know? [¶] . . . [¶] “I want you dead, man. I

3 want your mama dead and your fucking daughter, man, and I’m going to kill you motherfuckers . . . . I’m going to show you motherfuckers what real hate is, you know. [¶] . . . [¶] I don’t want to beg. I don’t want to—you know what, fuck being, I don’t even want to fucking be alive. You know what I mean?” Throughout this portion of defendant’s tirade, Rick did not respond to defendant’s threats other than to reiterate defendant should enroll in a counseling program and to extol the virtues of such a program, e.g., that a residential program would provide defendant with food and an opportunity for Bible study. The phone conversation continued. Defendant told Rick he was standing on the roof of the house and could “light all the exits on fire and you motherfuckers won’t even be able to get out.” Defendant asked Rick, “Do you hear me on the roof, Ricky?” Rick responded, “Nope,” and followed up with, “Hey Jamie, the program is going to be great for you.” Defendant’s retort was to tell Rick his “car is on fire already”; in fact, it wasn’t. Defendant asked to speak to his mother, and she told defendant he should go to school and go to counseling. After defendant continued to protest being kept out of the house and told Rick he “lit your house on fire,” Rick responded, “Jamie, this is terrorism.” Defendant said he didn’t care and told Rick maybe he (defendant) could eat in jail; Rick responded that he thought “it would be better in a program.” The conversation ended when Rick indicated he was going to get off the phone and would see defendant after his “little program”; defendant replied, “you have a nice day.” Sometime after the call between defendant and Rick ended, Rick called 911. Rick told the 911 operator his mother asked him to call because defendant had come to the house and damaged a

4 door while trying to break in. Rick’s mother, who also spoke to the 911 operator during the call, explained defendant broke the door frame but couldn’t get the door all the way open. In response to the operator’s questions, Rick said defendant was still trying to get in the house and seemed like he was on drugs. At the end of the call, the operator told Rick and his mother to call back if anything else happened, and the recording ends with Rick’s mother saying, “I smell um, I smell.” Rick called 911 again approximately ten minutes later. He told the operator he thought defendant “just poured gasoline all over, [and] he’s trying to burn the house down.” The operator asked, “And you said he put gas all over the house?” Rick responded, “Y[eah], we have a tape of the thing. And he did it. And he burst the door down trying to get in.” Rick then said, “It really smells like gas, or something in here. But we can’t go out because he’s out there. Yea[h], he’s coming back and forth across the street from the neighbors house, they’re also . . . felons.” The 911 operator told Rick that the police were being sent to his location and the fire department was also being notified. Rick told responding police officers that defendant broke the door and tried to get in the house. One of the officers examined the house’s side door and found the jamb had been cracked in a way consistent with someone hitting or kicking the door.

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Related

People v. Williams
948 P.2d 429 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Superior Court (Romero)
917 P.2d 628 (California Supreme Court, 1996)
People v. Skinner
704 P.2d 752 (California Supreme Court, 1985)
People v. Drew
583 P.2d 1318 (California Supreme Court, 1978)
People v. Superior Court of Yolo County
10 Cal. App. 5th 1316 (California Court of Appeal, 2017)
People v. Valencia
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People v. Superior Court of Riverside Cnty.
410 P.3d 22 (California Supreme Court, 2018)
People v. McKenzie
459 P.3d 25 (California Supreme Court, 2020)
People v. Frahs
466 P.3d 844 (California Supreme Court, 2020)
San Francisco Human Services Agency v. Stephanie M.
9 Cal. App. 5th 1090 (California Court of Appeal, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Ware CA2/5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ware-ca25-calctapp-2021.