P. v. Copper

Filed 5/15/06  P. v. Copper CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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  This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County.  W. Charles Morgan, Judge.  Affirmed.

Andrew Reed Flier for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Erika Hiramatsu and Heather F. Crawford, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

For reasons never made entirely clear, defendant left his home in Inglewood to come to Moreno Valley.  While there, he crashed his car.  He then attempted to carjack at least 10 cars at gunpoint.  He managed to successfully carjack two of the cars, but promptly crashed each of them, too.  Most of his intended victims escaped simply by driving away.  However, defendant shot at one such escaping driver, not only wounding her, but also gravely injuring her 14-year-old daughter. Defendant relied on the defense of necessity.  He claimed that he was trying to escape from angry drug dealers who were shooting at him ‑ ‑ either because, as he testified at trial, they thought he had paid them with counterfeit money, or because, as he told police, he had just robbed them.

The jury rejected this defense.  It found defendant guilty on three counts of carjacking (Pen. Code, §  215, subd. (a)), 11 counts of attempted carjacking (Pen. Code, §§  215, subd. (a), 664, subd. (a)), two counts of attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§  187, subd. (a), 664, subd. (a)), four counts of assault with a firearm (Pen. Code, §  245, subd. (a)(2)), and three counts of discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle (Pen. Code, §  246); it also found numerous enhancements true.  (Pen. Code, §§  12022.5, subd. (a), 12022.53, subds. (b) & (d), 12022.7, subd. (a).)  Defendant was sentenced to 104 years 2 months to life in prison.

Defendant now contends the trial court erred by:

1.  Allowing the prosecution to call Xavier R., who contradicted the testimony of certain defense witnesses, because Xavier R. had not been disclosed in discovery.

2.  Refusing to let defendant call Jennifer Hughey, who would have corroborated part of defendant's testimony.

We find no error.  Hence, we will affirm.

I

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A.        Carjacking of Pamela L.'s PT Cruiser at the Jack in the Box.

On July 10, 2003, around 2:00  p.m., defendant was driving a black Nissan Altima north on Perris Boulevard in Moreno Valley.

Miguel Gonzalez was also driving north on Perris, just past the Junior Market, on Perris south of Filaree Avenue.  Defendant came up behind him, then swerved around him.  A white car came up next to Gonzalez, then stopped.  Defendant pointed a gun back at Gonzalez and fired one shot.  As far as Gonzalez could tell, no one else had a gun or was shooting.

Defendant lost control of the Altima and crashed into a field on the east side of Perris.  He got out of the car, pulled out a gun, and walked to a Jack in the Box restaurant just north of the field.  He pointed his gun at the drivers of two cars in the parking lot, but each car drove away.

Defendant then walked up to a parked PT Cruiser.  In it were Pamela L. and her 10-year old daughter T.  Defendant tapped on the window with his gun.  He opened the driver's side door, put the gun to Pamela L.'s head, and said, â€