In re Ken T.

Filed 6/15/06 In re Ken T. CA1/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

A November 18, 2004 juvenile wardship petition, amended December 7, 2004, alleged Ken T. assaulted Ricky Wong with two deadly weapons, a wooden stool and sign respectively (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)[1]; counts one and two), by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury (count three); vandalized Wong's car (count four); robbed Wong of his wrist watch (§§ 211, 212.5, subd. (c); count five); and assaulted Allen Lu with a deadly weapon and by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury (counts six and seven). After a contested jurisdictional hearing, on January 5, 2005 the court found true the petition's allegations as to all seven counts.

At the end of a contested dispositional hearing on March 9, 2005, the juvenile court declared Ken a ward of the court, and ordered him committed to the Log Cabin Ranch School. The court calculated Ken's maximum period of confinement to be 10 years, eight months with credit for 46 days served. Ken T. timely appeals from that order. At Ken's request, we have consolidated his petition for a writ of habeas corpus with his appeal.[2]

In both his appeal and habeas corpus petition, Ken argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) when his counsel failed to cross-examine Wong regarding a 2002 domestic violence charge for which Wong was never prosecuted. In Ken's appeal, he also argues there was insufficient evidence to support the juvenile court's finding that Ken committed robbery when he took a watch from Wong after Ken had attacked him. We conclude Ken has failed to establish his IAC claim, and there was sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court's robbery finding. We thus affirm the juvenile court's March 9, 2005 order and deny the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

BACKGROUND

I. Prosecution's Case

A. Testimony by Ricky Wong.

On September 11, 2004 at 2:20 a.m., Wong was at a restaurant in Chinatown with friends Allen Lu, Zhi Liang, and Raymond Mak. After Wong left their table to use the bathroom, he returned to find a group of 10 to 15 Asian males, including Ken, standing near the table.

Wong recognized Ken because Ken's sister Theresa had introduced Wong to Ken four or five years earlier. About a year before the incident, Theresa stole Wong's credit card. Ken went to Wong's house and warned Wong that if Wong reported the theft to the police â€