People v. Yim CA1/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 28, 2016
DocketA140694
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Yim CA1/3 (People v. Yim CA1/3) 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. Yim CA1/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 4/28/16 P. v. Yim CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, A140694 v. DOUGLAS K. YIM, (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. C168147) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Douglas K. Yim was convicted by a jury of first degree murder of Dzuy Phan (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)), with enhancements for personal discharge of a firearm causing death (Pen. Code, § 12022.53, subd. (d)), and personal use of a firearm (Pen. Code, § 12022.5, subd. (a)). The jury convicted him of two offenses against Paul Park: mayhem (Pen. Code, § 203), with enhancements for personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 12022.53, subd. (d)), infliction of great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 12022.7, subd. (a)), and personal use of a firearm (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(2)); and assault with a firearm (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(2)), with enhancements for personal use of a firearm (Pen. Code, § 12022.5, subd. (a)), and infliction of great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 12022.7, subd. (a)). Yim was sentenced to 75 years to life on the murder count. The court imposed a concurrent sentence of 33 years to life on the mayhem count, and stayed a 17-year sentence on the assault count. Yim contends that: (1) his counsel was ineffective because he failed to object to admission of prejudicial photographs, evidence of possession of firearms not involved in the crimes, and related testimony; (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct by misstating

1 the law of heat-of-passion voluntary manslaughter in jury arguments, and his counsel was ineffective because he failed to object to the misstatements; (3) the first degree murder conviction was not supported by substantial evidence; and (4) the court incorrectly imposed an enhancement to his sentence for mayhem. We strike the enhancement and affirm the judgment as so modified. I. BACKGROUND A. Park’s Testimony Park went to his friend Yim’s house to socialize on the night of April 1, 2011. Park and Yim played video games, smoked marijuana, and drank beer. They were joined by Yim’s friend Phan. The three smoked marijuana, and Phan brought over a bottle of Hennessy cognac. Yim and Phan “were pounding [drinks] pretty hard,” and snorting cocaine. While they were playing video games, Yim and Phan began to argue. “[T]here was some smack talking going on while they were playing, and . . . it got a little heated.” Then they argued about religion. Yim believed in god and Phan did not. They took verbal shots at each other trying to prove their points of view. After arguing for about five to ten minutes, they calmed down and went back to playing games and having fun. About 30 minutes later, Yim and Phan began arguing again. When Yim would lose a game, Phan would taunt him by asking, “Where was god there?” When Phan asked Yim where god was when his father died, Yim threw a video game controller at the TV and broke the screen. Yim then “got kind of quiet” and had “just a blank expression on his face.” Park and Phan cleaned up the broken glass, and tried to calm Yim down. Park offered to pay half the cost of a new TV, and Phan by way of apology offered to pay the other half. In response to these offers, Yim “didn’t really say much” and just kind of nodded his head. Yim went and sat in a dining area off the living room and appeared to calm down. As Park stood between them, Phan spent 15 to 30 minutes telling Yim that he was his friend and that Yim needed to calm down. Yim told Phan, “ ‘You need to leave.’ ” Phan smiled, gave Yim what Park called a “wake up push” to get his attention, and said, “I’m

2 your fucking friend.” Yim gave Phan “a weird like grimace look without saying anything,” and Phan said something like “I’m your fucking friend. If you want to get your gun to shoot me, then go ahead.” Park did not have the impression that Phan was trying to egg Yim on. Park believed this was Phan’s way of apologizing without having to lose face and say he was sorry. For the next five minutes Park stayed between Yim and Phan and tried to calm them down, saying, “ ‘What are you guys talking about? Why are you acting like this?’ ” He told Phan, “ ‘We should leave.’ ” Without saying anything, Yim left the room and walked slowly through the kitchen. When Yim returned to the living room area less than five minutes later his attention seemed focused solely on Phan, and the look in his eyes was “kind of like a blank, kind of pent up rage.” Yim was “looking right through” Phan, and Park thought the two were going to fight. Park got in between them, put his hands up and said, “ ‘Hold on.’ ” Park did not see that Yim was holding a gun. He heard a shot, his left arm “flew back,” and for a time he was “blinded and deaf.” Then he saw that his left wrist was gushing blood. He noticed that Phan was in a “defensive position,” with an arm in front of his face, trying to shield himself from something. Park ran to the front door because he was concerned that he had to get to a hospital before he bled to death. When he got into his car across the street from the house, he heard five or six shots fired one second apart. Although his earlier testimony described a shorter timeframe, Park estimated that “[m]aybe 30 minutes” elapsed from the time Phan pushed Yim and the time he got into his car. When Park got to the hospital he told highway patrol officers that he had been shot on the freeway because he assumed he was the only one hurt and he wanted to protect Yim. He later told police the truth, and testified that he would no longer lie to protect Yim because “[a] person’s life was taken.” Park testified that due to his injury he lost feeling in three fingers, and movement and 50 to 60 percent of the muscle mass in his left hand.

3 B. Other Prosecution Evidence At 3:28 a.m. on April 2, Yim’s next door neighbor Rachel Ayfer called 911 after hearing about seven gunshots. Ayfer was familiar with guns and had been taught how to fire an M16 rifle. The shots that night were the most rapid she had ever heard, and she believed they were from an extremely large, fully automatic weapon. She heard a car peel out and speed away from the area of Yim’s driveway. Police were dispatched to the neighborhood and found the area clear. Yim had a marijuana growing operation below his living area, and surveillance cameras above his garage and front porch. Video from Yim’s front porch showed Park and Yim separately leaving the house between 3:33 and 3:38 a.m. At 5:11 p.m. on April 2, Yim left a voicemail for his sister Caroline Yim. Caroline allowed police to record the message, and it was played for the jury. Yim told Caroline she was going to hear “something really bad” and that he was “really, really, really sorry.” Yim said, “I’m gonna turn myself in . . . cause something really bad happened.” He said, “I did something very terrible,” and “I swear . . . I can’t control myself. . . . Tell mom I’m sorry—but . . . I’m gonna have to go away. I have to turn myself in.” At 5:16 p.m., Yim left a message with his cousin Jayn Hong, which Hong allowed the police to record. Yim said, “I did something really terrible here last night . . . I don’t know if you heard, but I’m going to go turn myself in. . . . I have a problem, but I don’t know what . . . I can do to get help. So, I’m turning myself in.” When Caroline heard Yim’s message, she called their mother, Mikyong Yim, who went to Yim’s house. Ayfer heard screaming next door, and saw Mikyong run out of the house.

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People v. Yim CA1/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-yim-ca13-calctapp-2016.