CA Unpub Decisions

Following the denial of his request for fees to retain an expert, defendant Eldon Wayne Lauri pled guilty to continuous sexual abuse of a child and two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child. He obtained a certificate of probable cause, and now appeals. Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion in denying his request for fees to retain an expert and as a result of the court's erroneous denial of fees, he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to present a defense, effective assistance of counsel, and his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process and equal protection. On the record before us, Court find any error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

Defendant Antone Corbett entered into a bargain whereby he pled no contest to corporal injury on a child, admitted an enhancement alleging he personally committed great bodily injury, and admitted a strike in one case, and admitted possession of a firearm by a felon in another case. (Pen. Code, §§ 273d, subd. (a), 12022.7, subd. (a), 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, 12021, subd. (a).) In exchange, other charges were dismissed and defendant was promised a sentence of eight years and four months.
The factual basis for the plea showed that between December 13 and 26, 2007, defendant willfully inflicted cruel and unlawful corporal punishment on a child â€

After a jury found defendant Brandon Tanner guilty of first degree burglary, he was placed on five years' formal probation with various terms and conditions.
On appeal, defendant challenges two of those conditions. Both contentions are conceded by the People, and we agree that both have merit.
First, although the trial court ordered defendant â€

Defendant entered a negotiated plea of no contest to felony failure to register (§ 290.018, subd. (b)) in exchange for a grant of probation for a term of five years, subject to certain terms and conditions including 210 days in county jail with 70 days of credit for time served.[2] The court sentenced defendant accordingly.

Appointed counsel for defendant Jason Conner asked this Court to review the record to determine whether there are any arguable issues on appeal. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende).) We find no arguable error and no Penal Code section 4019 concerns. We shall affirm the judgment.
I
On January 2, 2010, defendant stole property from a Target store in Sacramento County. He had a prior conviction for robbery. (Pen. Code, § 211.)
Defendant pled no contest to petty theft with a prior theft conviction (Pen. Code, § 666) and admitted a prior serious felony conviction within the meaning of the three strikes law. The court sentenced defendant to a stipulated term of 32 months in prison (with 41 days of presentence custody credit and 20 days of conduct credit), and imposed various fines and fees.
Defendant appeals. He did not obtain a certificate of probable cause.

This case comes before us pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.
On March 5, 2010, in case No. 09F5623, defendant Wayne Jerome Bergman pleaded guilty to possession of heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a); count 2) and maintenance of a place for selling heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11366; count 3). He admitted having served three prior prison terms. (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b).)[1] In exchange, three related counts and enhancing allegations were dismissed.[2] The parties stipulated to a state prison term of five years eight months.
On March 30, 2010, in case No. 10F1889, defendant pleaded no contest to possession of heroin for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351; count 1) and admitted three prior narcotics convictions (Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.2). He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery upon an officer. (§ 243, subd. (b); count 4.) In exchange, four related counts and enhancing allegations were dismissed. The parties stipulated to a state prison term of 12 years concurrent with case No. 09F5623.
Defendant was sentenced to state prison for the stipulated terms and to county jail for time already served.

Around 1:00 a.m. on March 21, 2006, defendant Shamar Lavette Thornton and an accomplice robbed a 7-Eleven store, taking $62 from the store's cash registers at gunpoint. They then took the only store clerk, William Edward Gould, into a dark storage room where defendant shot Gould several times, killing him. Defendant was only 20 years old at the time of the crimes and was tried separately.
A jury found defendant guilty as charged of the first degree murder of Gould, robbery, and possessing a firearm as a felon in counts 1, 2, and 3, respectively. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 211, 12021, subd. (a)(1).) The jury also found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd (a)(17)), and that defendant personally discharged a firearm, causing death, in the murder and the robbery (Pen. Code, § 12022.53, subd. (d)). For the murder and personal discharge enhancement in count 1, defendant was sentenced to life without parole plus 25 years to life.

On February 16, 2005, defendant Hector Bibian Gil was arrested on a warrant, and a car purportedly belonging to him was searched. A sawed-off shotgun was found secreted in the trunk. Several months later, on April 16, 2005, Gil and defendant Adrian Alex Gonzalez, known Eastside Riva 14th Street gang members, confronted members of the Kelsey family outside their home. Gil shot into the crowd of people; a bullet hit their home, but no one was hurt.
Gil was convicted of possession of a sawed-off shotgun. Both Gil and Gonzalez were convicted of six counts of attempted murder, six counts of assault with a firearm, one count of firing at an inhabited dwelling, and one count of participation in a criminal street gang. Personal and principal weapons use and gang enhancements were also found true for these counts.

During family law child custody proceedings between the parents, the paternal grandmother, L.A. (grandmother), intervened and was awarded custody of the children, E.A. and A.A. in 2007, and mother, N.M. (mother), was granted supervised visitation. E.F.A. (father) died in November 2007. In April 2008, grandmother petitioned to terminate the parental rights of mother, in order to adopt her grandchildren. Following a bench trial, the court found that mother had abandoned the children by not availing herself of all visitation opportunities although she exercised visitation and made frequent telephone calls, and that she had failed to support the children.
Mother appeals, challenging the court's characterization of her contacts as â€

Plaintiff sued defendant, City of Turlock, to recover for injuries she sustained when she tripped in a pothole in the parking area of a city street and fell. The jury found in favor of plaintiff, but also found she was 50 percent comparatively negligent. She contends the trial court improperly excluded evidence of two prior complaints about potholes in other areas of the same street, which was offered as evidence of defendant's actual knowledge of the dangerous condition that caused plaintiff's injuries. She asserts it is reasonably probable the jury verdict would have been more favorable to her if the jury had known of the prior complaints. Court affirm.

On August 5, 2009, the Tulare County District Attorney filed a petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602, alleging that J.P. committed assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); count 1) and battery (§ 242; count 2).
The juvenile court found the allegations true. J.P. was committed to the Tulare County Youth Facility for 365 days less 120 credit days for time served.

Petitioner, Julie Ann Shanholtzer (Shanholtzer) seeks relief from the failure to file a timely notice of appeal. The petition is granted.
In January 2009, Shanholtzer pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, and possession of a hypodermic needle or syringe. In exchange for her plea, it was agreed that the execution of petitioner's six year sentence would be suspended, and petitioner would be granted probation for a term of five years. As a condition of probation, she was required to complete a program at Delancey Street.

Defendant Pablo Mora was convicted of attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 664)[1] and assault with a semiautomatic firearm (§ 245, subd. (b)) following a jury trial. At trial, the principal defense argument was that defendant had been knocked out by the victim Anthony Trujillo and he had lacked the intent to kill when he regained consciousness and fired his weapon. The jury found that the attempted murder was not willful, premeditated and deliberate. It found true the allegations that, in committing the attempted murder, defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm and proximately caused great bodily injury (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)) and, in committing the assault, defendant personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) and personally inflicted great bodily injury upon Antonio Trujillo (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)). The court sentenced him to a lower term of five years on the attempted murder conviction (§ 664, subd. (a)) and stayed imposition of other terms.
On appeal, defendant argues that the court incorrectly instructed regarding the legal standard for provocation, the prosecutor misstated the law, his defense counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to object to the prosecutor's argument, and the court also improperly admitted evidence of unrelated gun possession. Court affirm.

Appellant Robert Plummer, Jr. appeals from the judgment entered in favor of respondents Department of Health Services (DHS) and Lavonne Coen after appellant's action was dismissed because he failed to furnish security as ordered by the trial court pursuant to the vexatious litigant statute Code of Civil Procedure[1] section 391.3. The trial court deemed appellant to be a vexatious litigant under section 391, subdivision (b)(1) on the ground that in the past seven years, appellant commenced or maintained five litigations that had been â€