People v. Williams CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 26, 2013
DocketD062840
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Williams CA4/1 (People v. Williams CA4/1) 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. Williams CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 11/26/13 P. v. Williams CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D062840

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD232643)

ARNELL WILLIAMS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Albert T.

Harutunian, III, Judge. Affirmed as modified.

Sarah Kleven McGann, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant

and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney

General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Barry Carlton and James H.

Flaherty III, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury convicted Arnell Williams of selling cocaine base in violation of Health

and Safety Code section 11352, subdivision (a), and possession of cocaine base for sale in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11351.5. Williams admitted having a

prior strike conviction (Pen. Code,1 §§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12) and a prior prison

term conviction (§§ 667.5, subd. (b), 668). The court sentenced Williams to seven years

in state prison.

Williams contends (1) the court prejudicially erred by failing to instruct the jury

on the lesser included offense of possession of cocaine base; (2) the booking fee the court

imposed under Government Code section 29550.1 violated the equal protection clause of

the federal Constitution because there is no rational basis to distinguish between related

statutes that require a finding of ability to pay and Government Code section 29550.1,

which does not; (3) there is insufficient evidence of his ability to pay the Government

Code section 29550.1 fee; (4) the court erred in imposing a drug program fee under

Health and Safety Code section 11372.72 without making a finding of his ability to pay;

(5) the court should have charged $540 for a drug program fee rather than $570; and (6)

the court violated the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws by imposing a

restitution fine under section 1202.4, subdivision (b)(1), (2) in the current statutory

minimum amount of $240 per year instead of the minimum amount of $200 that was in

effect at the time of his offenses. We modify the judgment to reduce the drug program

fee to $540. As so modified, the judgment is affirmed.

1 Further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

2 Williams erroneously refers to the relevant statute as Health and Safety Code section 11372.2.

2 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In February 2011, San Diego Police Department Detective Joseph Harper, who

was assigned to a narcotics team, received information that Darryl Jordan, also known as

Li'l D, was selling cocaine base and methamphetamine. On February 24, Harper called

Jordan on his undercover cell phone and said he wanted to purchase $80 worth of cocaine

base. Jordan told Harper he could get him the cocaine base and would send his "people"

to meet him at a Kmart parking lot at about 9:00 that evening. The police put a

surveillance team in place in the parking lot and at around 9:00 p.m. Harper rode there on

a bicycle, dressed in casual clothes. About 15 minutes later, Williams rode up to Harper

on a bicycle and Harper asked, "Are you Li'l D's friend?" Williams walked up to Harper

and extended his hand. The two shook hands and Williams pressed a small package into

Harper's palm. Harper looked down and recognized the substance in the package as

cocaine base wrapped in clear plastic. Harper handed Williams a cigarette box that

contained $80. He thanked Williams and asked if he could call him again sometime.

Williams responded, "Sure." Harper then gave a signal that he had completed the drug

purchase and rode away on his bicycle.

After the drug deal was completed, a uniformed police officer in a marked police

car drove up to Williams, who appeared to be working on his bicycle. When the officer

exited his car, Williams started to mount the bicycle. The officer ordered Williams to

stop and placed him under arrest. The cigarette box containing the $80 was on the

ground near Williams's feet. The officer removed a cell phone with a push-to-talk,

walkie-talkie feature from Williams's pocket. After Williams was arrested, Harper called

3 Jordan and told him his "peoples" never showed up and that he had left the Kmart

parking lot but still wanted to buy cocaine base. Jordan asked Harper if he had seen the

police arrest his people. Harper "played dumb" and said he "didn't see any of that."

Harper arrested Jordan on March 9, 2011, when Jordan came to his parole office

for a urine test. Jordan's parole agent confiscated a cell phone from him that was the

same make and model as the one the police took from Williams. When Harper called

Jordan's cell phone from his undercover cell phone, Jordan's phone identified the

incoming caller as "Mike 80." "Mike" was Harper's undercover name and Harper

construed the number "80" as representing the dollar amount of the cocaine base he asked

Jordan to sell him. Williams's push-to-talk number was saved in Jordan's phone and

Jordan's push-to-talk number was saved in Williams's phone. Records from the cell

phone carrier showed that Williams received five calls from Jordan's phone between 8:00

and 9:10 p.m. on the night he was arrested. Williams's sale of cocaine base to Harper

occurred around 9:15 p.m. The last call at 9:10 p.m. was close to the time Harper called

Jordan to ask where his "people" were.

Williams's testimony

Williams testified that he had "befriended" Jordan but he did not "really know"

him. On the date of his arrest, Williams was busy the entire day organizing a birthday

party for his stepfather. Around 7:00 p.m., Williams received a phone call from Jordan,

who had been at Williams's house earlier that day. Jordan told Williams he had left

something at the house and asked Williams if he could bring it to him. Williams said he

could not leave the house because he had people over and things to do. He told Jordan to

4 come back to the house and then hung up. However, Jordan kept calling Williams, and

Williams felt that Jordan was "harassing" him.

Later that evening, Jordan called Williams and said, " 'I have my people over in

that area. Could you give it to him?' " Williams did not know what " 'it' " was. He

asked, " '[W]ho's your people?' " Jordan responded, " 'I have somebody off El Cajon

Boulevard.' " Jordan called Williams again and asked if Williams would give the item he

left at the house to " 'my people.' " Jordan said his " 'people' " were just around the corner

from Williams and the item he wanted Williams to deliver was in a fruit bowl in the

kitchen. Williams grabbed the item from the bowl, put it in his pocket, and rode his

bicycle to the Kmart parking lot, where Jordan said his friend would be. He described the

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People v. Williams CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-williams-ca41-calctapp-2013.