CA Unpub Decisions

On May 12, 2006, a jury convicted defendant, Sirlasie Rayshon Curry, of two counts of peace officer assault with a semiautomatic weapon and one count of firearm possession by a felon. (Pen. Code, §§ 245, subd. (d)(2); former §§ 12021, subd. (a)(1).) The jury further found true allegations defendant personally used a firearm in committing the assaults. (§§ 2022.5, subds. (a), (d); 12022.53, subd. (b).) We modified and affirmed the judgment on direct appeal. (People v. Curry (Jan. 14, 2008, B194321) [nonpub. opn.].) As modified on appeal, defendant was sentenced to 24 years, 8 months in state prison.
At sentencing on October 4, 2006, the trial court awarded defendant credit for 666 days in presentence custody plus 100 days for good conduct. Ten years later, on April 25, 2016, defendant filed a motion in the trial court to correct his presentence credits. (§ 1237.1.) Defendant argued he was entitled to credit for 675 days in presentence custody plus 101 days of conduct

The City of San Diego (City) awarded the low bidder, USS Cal Builders, Inc.
(USS), a contract for road improvements after a public bidding process. The second
lowest bidder, West Coast General Corporation (West Coast), petitioned for a writ of
mandate seeking to compel the City to set aside this award. West Coast alleged the City
had no authority to accept USS's bid because the bid did not initially include price
information for two subcontractors. The trial court denied the writ petition.

Agneta Dobos appeals from the judgment entered following the trial court’s denial of her petition for writ of administrative mandate seeking reversal of the decision of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) rejecting her application for a service-connected disability retirement. We affirm.

Brannon Lawrence Pitcher appeals after a jury
convicted him on two counts of sex trafficking of a minor (Pen.
Code,1 § 236.1, subd. (c) (§ 236.1(c)); counts 1 and 2), one count of
possession of a controlled substance (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377,
subd. (a)), and 73 misdemeanor counts of disobeying a court order
(§ 166, subd. (a)(4)). The jury also found that the offense charged in
count 1 involved force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress,
menace, or threat of unlawful injury (§ 236.1(c)(2)). Appellant
admitted suffering prior serious felony and strike convictions (§ 667,
subds. (a)(1), (d)(1) & (e)(1), 1170.12, subds. (b)(1) & (c)(1)) and
serving two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The trial court
sentenced him to 36 years to life in state prison, consisting of 15

Jesus and Sofia Aguayo (appellants) appeal from a
judgment entered after a 22-day bench trial in this civil
enforcement action brought by the State of California (the
People) against appellants for violation of the unfair competition
laws (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.) (UCL).
1 The action
arises out of a complex real estate scam through which appellants
acquired and rented real estate belonging to others. This civil
proceeding follows two criminal trials which resulted in 31
criminal convictions related to the scheme, 29 of which were
felonies

Defendant Avery Maurice Jones appeals his conviction for sale of a controlled substance, asserting that the trial court’s erroneous admission of hearsay statements resulted in reversible error. Defendant also requests this Court to review the trial court’s ruling on his Pitchess motion. We affirm because admission of the statements, if error, was harmless, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling on the Pitchess motion.

Police detained defendant Antonio Cruz and codefendant Carlos Lara after finding
their van parked on the side of the road. A search of the van yielded 2,062 pounds of
marijuana packaged in numerous bundles. Cruz moved to suppress the evidence under
Penal Code section 1538.51
as the fruits of an illegal search. After the court denied his
motion, Cruz pleaded no contest to possession of marijuana for sale and transportation of
marijuana for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11359, 11360, subd. (a).) The trial court
imposed a total term of three years.

The mother, C.M., appeals from August 27, 2015 Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a) and (b) jurisdictional and dispositional orders. The mother is the great paternal aunt and adoptive mother of the child, T.M. The mother contends: the juvenile court erred by refusing to continue the jurisdictional and dispositional hearing, which she did not attend; she is entitled to have the jurisdictional order reversed because her counsel, Vincent Davis, acted ineffectively; Mr. Davis acted ineffectively because he failed to present any evidence at the jurisdictional and dispositional hearing; and it was error for the juvenile court to find that the mother’s preferred counsel, Joni Saloman, was not competent to provide representation during dependency proceedings. We affirm the jurisdictional and dispositional orders.

On May 3, 2016, the San Bernardino County District Attorney filed a petition to
declare defendant and appellant J.M. (minor) a ward of the court. (Welf. & Inst. Code,
§602, subd. (a).) The petition alleged that minor violated (1) Penal Code section 459
(residential burglary), a felony (count 1); and (2) Vehicle Code section 10851,
subdivision (a) (unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle), a felony (count 2).

The sole issue raised in this appeal brought by defendants Hooman Toyota of Long Beach (Hooman) and Toyota Financial Services CDE Corporation (Toyota Financial) is whether the trial court erred in awarding the prevailing-party plaintiffs Raul Carranza Valencia and Benjamin Carranza attorney fees pursuant to Civil Code section 1717. We conclude plaintiffs’ action was “on the contract” as that phrase is used in section 1717 and affirm the order.

In San Diego Superior Court case No. SCD261461 (SCD261461), a jury convicted
Prentes Lorenzo Boxx1 of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm (Pen. Code,
§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) and found true an allegation Boxx personally used a deadly weapon,
specifically a knife, in the commission of the offense (Pen. Code, § 1192.7, subd.
(c)(23)). Boxx subsequently admitted having a prior prison commitment conviction (Pen.
Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)), a prior serious felony conviction (Pen. Code, §§ 667, subd.
(a)(1), 1192.7, subd. (c)), and a prior strike conviction (Pen. Code, §§ 667, subds. (b)-(i),
1170.12). He also admitted he was out on bail at the time of the offense (Pen. Code,
§ 12022.1, subd. (b)).

Plaintiff and appellant Michael Herman (Herman) appeals from the judgment against him after a five-day bench trial. Herman sued defendants and respondents Transcendigital, Inc. (TDI) and Joel Tucker (Tucker) (collectively respondents) seeking dissolution of TDI, an equitable accounting, and breach of fiduciary duty against Tucker. Herman raises numerous challenges to the judgment in his lengthy opening brief. We affirm.

Defendant, Roscoe Williams, appeals from his judgment of conviction. On September 25, 2015, defendant was convicted by jury trial of one count of felony false imprisonment and one count of criminal threats. (Pen. Code , §§ 236-237, 422, subd. (a).) The jury also found as to both counts defendant used a deadly weapon. (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1).) We affirm the judgment, as modified.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney
General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. Swenson and Junichi P.
Semitsu, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendant and appellant George Valdez was convicted of multiple offenses
growing out of the abuse of his former stepdaughter and his stepdaughter's younger
2
friend. The abuse of the stepdaughter began when she was six years old, continued until
she was 12 years old and involved multiple acts of vaginal and anal intercourse as well as
oral copulation; Valdez's abuse of his stepdaughter's friend began when the second victim
was eight and involved digital penetration, attempted sodomy, sodomy and separate lewd
acts.