The People v. Pierre CA2/5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 11, 2013
DocketB244001
StatusUnpublished

This text of The People v. Pierre CA2/5 (The People v. Pierre 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
The People v. Pierre CA2/5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Filed 9/11/13 P. v. Pierre CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B244001

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA088187) v.

MARKUS PIERRE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Arthur Jean, Jr., Judge. Affirmed. Siri Shetty, 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, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr., Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Daniel C. Chang, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _______________________________ The jury convicted defendant and appellant Markus Pierre in count 1of attempted murder (Pen. Code §§ 664, 187 subd. (a)),1 in count 2 of first degree burglary (§ 459), in count 3 of aggravated mayhem (§ 205), and in count 4 of criminal threats (§ 422).2 The jury found that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon in counts 1-3 (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). The jury found not true the allegation in count 1 that the attempted murder was willful, deliberate, and premeditated. The trial court found true the allegation that defendant served a prior prison term (§667.5, subd. (b)) as to counts 1-4. The trial court sentenced defendant to seven years to life on count 3, plus one year for each weapon use and prior prison term enhancement for a total of nine years to life in state prison. The court imposed sentences as to counts 1, 2, and 4 but stayed the sentences pursuant to section 654. Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing a juror from the case and that there is insufficient evidence to support the conviction for aggravated mayhem. We affirm the judgment.

FACTS

Prosecution

Defendant was interested in Melissa D. romantically and sexually. Although Melissa knew defendant, she did not reciprocate defendant’s feelings, nor was she involved in either a sexual or romantic relationship with him. Defendant called Melissa often between June 2010 and February 2011. Melissa was concerned at the frequency of the calls. She felt defendant was stalking her and believed it was necessary to change her phone number. She called the police to get a restraining order against defendant.

1 All further statutory references will be to the Penal Code, unless otherwise designated.

2 Three additional counts were dismissed.

2 At approximately 9:00 p.m. on February 25, 2011, Melissa received a phone call from defendant. Defendant did not speak to her but instead just “h[e]ld the phone.” Melissa went home to her apartment alone and fell asleep on her bed next to the window. At approximately 11:30 p.m., Melissa awoke to find defendant leaning through the window next to her bed and choking her. Defendant was squeezing her neck so hard that Melissa could barely speak or breathe. He had a scalpel in his hand and threatened, “Bitch, I am going to kill you.” Melissa fought defendant and was able to break free of his grip. As she got out of bed she noticed that her chest was cut. Melissa screamed for help and ran out of her bedroom toward the door to her apartment. As she was fleeing, she felt a cutting sensation on the left side of her back. Defendant caught Melissa on the front porch and started choking her a second time. Melissa’s neighbors, David Figueroa and Darlene Cota, heard Melissa screaming to them for help. Figueroa heard Melissa scream that she was being stabbed. Cota called 9-1-1 and told the operator a man was beating up a girl in the next apartment.3 Cota then went out on her front porch and turned on the light. She heard someone being choked and saw defendant and Melissa on Melissa’s porch. Cota recognized defendant as someone she had seen before.4 Defendant explained that he was getting his clothes from Melissa’s laundry room. When defendant walked toward Cota, Melissa ran back into her apartment, locked the door, and screamed. Defendant yelled that he wanted his things back and tried to get into Melissa’s apartment. He then screamed, “Bitch I am going to kill you. I am going to get you. I am going to finish what I started.” Cota saw something shiny in defendant’s hand.

3 A recording of the 9-1-1 call was played for the jury and a transcript of the call was published to the jury.

4 Cota had seen defendant about four times. She initially met him in 2008 or 2009, when he introduced himself as Melissa’s husband.

3 Cota walked past defendant and went into Melissa’s apartment. Melissa appeared hysterical. She told Cota that defendant stabbed her and tried to kill her. Melissa’s shirt was torn, but Cota did not notice Melissa was bleeding until later, when she saw blood on Melissa’s chest, back, and side. While the women were inside, Figueroa observed defendant running toward the street. Figueroa recognized defendant from the food bank. He had also seen defendant at Melissa’s apartment on occasion. Figueroa noticed a small knife, which he identified as a scalpel, in defendant’s hand.5 Figueroa warned defendant to leave before the police got there. Defendant responded that he was going to come back and kill Melissa. Defendant made the threat when he was approximately 12 feet away from Figueroa. Long Beach Police Officer George Evans and his partner responded to the scene. When they arrived, a woman came out of the apartment and screamed that she had been stabbed. She was wearing a white T-shirt soaked with blood. Officer Evans surveyed the area and observed the bedroom window open approximately two feet wide, and the screen lying outside on the grass. There was fresh blood on the porch leading to the bedroom. There was also blood on the bed. Melissa told Officer Evans that defendant had come through the window while she was sleeping and slashed her with a scalpel. Soon afterward, the paramedics arrived and transported Melissa to the hospital for her injuries. Melissa’s treating physician, Dr. Mauricio Heilbron, performed surgery on a minimum of six lacerations. The lacerations were serious. Some of them were disfiguring and penetrated her skin and subcutaneous fat. One of the disfiguring lacerations was made around the area of Melissa’s right breast. The laceration was so deep Dr. Heilbron had to take special care to close the incision. He described it as a “horrible slash across the woman’s chest and breast.” Melissa’s wounds were consistent with the type caused by a scalpel. He explained that her cuts were “extraordinarily clean.” “The . . . breast wound has a curve to it. It is very hard to cut a curve with a

5 Figueroa had previously worked as a nurse.

4 serrated knife. You have to saw. And this wasn’t.” Melissa was hospitalized for approximately three weeks. After Melissa left the hospital, defendant left several voice mail messages on her phone. He called her a “cheap little bitch” and threatened to beat her.6

Defense

Defendant testified that on February 25, 2011, he and Melissa were having a difficult relationship. He had been at Melissa’s earlier in the day but left around 5:30 or 6:00 p.m., because Melissa accused him of having an affair and hit him. As defendant was leaving, Melissa told him she planned to call her boyfriend, Junior Mack. Melissa called defendant around 11:00 or 11:30 p.m. and sounded hysterical. She begged defendant to come back.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
The People v. Pierre CA2/5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-v-pierre-ca25-calctapp-2013.