P. v. Jacobs

Filed 1/23/07  P. v. Jacobs CA2/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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  This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

            APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County,

Lisa Chung, Judge.  Affirmed.

            William Flenniken, Jr., under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

            Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr. and April S. Rylaarsdam, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

_________________________

            Defendant and appellant, George Jacobs, appeals from the judgment entered following his conviction, by jury trial, for aggravated assault by a life prisoner, with prior serious felony and Three Strikes enhancement findings (Pen. Code, §§  4500, 667, subd.  (a)-(i)).^[1]  Sentenced to state prison for 22 years to life,^[2] Jacobs claims there was trial and sentencing error.

            The judgment is affirmed.

BACKGROUND

            Viewed in accordance with the usual rule of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206, we find the evidence established the following.       

            1.  Prosecution evidence.

            Jason Frey was working as a Correctional Officer at the California State Prison at Lancaster.  On November  9, 2004, he had transported inmate Ricard Sansoucie to court and was returning him to the prison.  Frey walked Sansoucie back to his cell, which was on the second tier.  Sansoucie was handcuffed.  When they reached the cell, Frey had Sansoucie wait while Frey determined if Sansoucie's cellmate, defendant Jacobs, was inside the cell.  Frey looked into the cell and did not see Jacobs.  Frey yelled to a correctional officer in the control booth to open the cell door.

            As the cell door opened, Jacobs ran out and, without a word, attacked Frey.  Jacobs grabbed Frey and punched him in the face four or five times.  The attack was so swift, Frey did not have a chance to use his handcuffs, pepper spray or baton.  He did manage to grab onto Jacobs and pull them both to the floor.  Meanwhile, the control booth operator sounded an alarm.  Other correctional officers came running to Frey's assistance and managed, with some difficulty, to pull Jacobs off Frey.  Several correctional officers testified Jacobs had his right arm around Frey's neck and was punching Frey in the face with his left hand.

            Frey suffered cuts and abrasions to his face.  Photographs of his injuries were shown to the jury.  Frey received minor medical treatment.

            Jacobs had assaulted Frey once before.  In January  2004, Frey was working in the prison law library where he was in charge of loaning books to inmates.  Frey charged Jacobs for some destroyed books found in his cell.  Jacobs and Frey argued about it and, two days later, Jacobs somehow freed himself from his handcuffs and hit Frey in the eye.  In response, Frey filed a civil lawsuit against Jacobs, part of an organized effort to deter inmates from attacking correctional officers by seizing their canteen money.

            Xavier Renteria, the correctional officer who was in charge of the control booth that day, testified he opened Jacobs's cell door at Frey's instruction.  As the door opened, Jacobs came out of the cell with clenched fists, ran toward Frey and started hitting him in the face.  Renteria saw Jacobs punch Frey three times before Renteria turned around to sound an alarm.  Renteria grabbed a weapon and got ready to provide gun coverage for Frey.  By the time he looked back over at Frey, however, several correctional officers were already trying to restrain Jacobs.

            Correctional Officer Uriel Gamboa took pictures of Jacobs immediately after the assault.  Jacobs was wearing:  two white socks, torn at the toe, over his forearms; two white T-shirts; a white jumpsuit pulled up to his waist and tied with torn sheets; two pairs of boxers; and, white socks on top of his orange shoes.  Gamboa believed Jacobs was dressed like this in part as â€