P. v. Douglas
Appellant Kareem Jamall Douglas was charged by amended information with 14 counts of second degree robbery. Many of the counts included an allegation that a principal was armed with a handgun. (Pen. Code, 12022, subd. (a)(1).)[1] Count 8 included an allegation that appellant personally used a handgun ( 12022.53, subd. (b)), causing the offense to be both a serious and a violent felony ( 1192.7, subd. (c)(8), 667.5, subd. (c)(8)).
On October 28, 2008, pursuant to a plea bargain, appellant pled guilty to counts 1 and 8 and admitted count 8s firearm allegation. The remaining charges were dismissed. Appellant was sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison. He received, on count 8, the midterm of three years, plus 10 years for the firearms enhancement. A consecutive term of one year was added for count 1. He was awarded 339 total days of presentence custody credits. The preliminary hearing transcript shows that for count 8, appellant pointed a gun at the employee of a liquor store while he and an accomplice robbed the store. For count 1, another accomplice was the gunman and appellant drove the getaway vehicle during the robbery of a different liquor store. Appellant confessed his participation in the crimes. On June 22, 2009, this court granted appellant relief from default for failure to timely file a certificate of probable cause under section 1237.5. Appellants notice of appeal and request for a certificate of probable cause were filed that same day in the superior court. Appellant indicated in his request that he was induced into the plea by misrepresentations of counsel and thought he was pleading guilty only to being an accessory after the fact. Four days later, the superior court denied the request for a certificate of probable cause, and indicated that it had previously denied such a request on April 21, 2009.
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