P. v. Ramsey
Defendant Jeffrey Lang Ramsey was convicted by a jury of corporal injury to a cohabitant (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)),[1] and making criminal threats (§ 422). He was found by the court to have committed a prior strike offense (§ 1170.12) and a prior serious felony (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)), and a prior term in prison (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). He was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison consisting of the midterm of three years for corporal injury to a cohabitant, doubled pursuant to the three strikes law, plus five years for the prior serious felony, and other concurrent sentences. Ramsey argues that the judgment must be reversed because of evidentiary and instructional errors, that the court abused its discretion when it withdrew its approval of his no contest plea, and that one of his concurrent sentences was unauthorized.
Ramsey’s principal contention is that the court erred when it excluded defense testimony suggesting that the victim might have fabricated her accusations in order to steal Ramsey’s property. We conclude that the court acted reasonably in excluding this testimony under Evidence Code section 352. We also reject all of Ramsey’s additional arguments other than the challenge to the unauthorized concurrent sentence. We remand for correction of this part of the sentence, but otherwise affirm.
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