P. v. Yi

Filed 8/15/06 P. v. Yi CA2/4

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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

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

Mark S. Arnold, Judge. Affirmed.

Ralph H. Goldsen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Jaime L. Fuster and Douglas L. Wilson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BACKGROUND

Appellant Charles Yi was convicted of the first degree murder of Linda Cihos. In addition, the jury found true the allegation that he personally used a knife in the commission of the crime, pursuant to Penal Code section 12022, subdivision (b)(1). On January 6, 2005, he was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison, and filed his timely notice of appeal the same day.

Cihos died as a result of multiple stab wounds. One of the stab wounds, which was one and one-half inches long, five and one-fourth inches deep, entered front to back, sharply downward, and penetrated into the left ventricle of her heart. It was fatal within minutes. In addition, she had suffered wounds to the face, neck, and chest, as well as defensive wounds on both hands.

There was an eyewitness to the killing. Salvador Salazar testified that on August 20, 2003, he was working as a security guard and janitor at Gardena Plaza shopping center. At approximately 9:00 p.m., he heard a woman screaming, exited the building, and saw two cars parked close together. Salazar saw a man who appeared to be beating someone inside one of the cars, ran to the scene, and told the man to step away from the lady. The man, whose hands and T-shirt were bloody, complied and backed away with his hands up, entered a white Toyota Camry, and drove away. Salazar wrote down the license plate number on his hand.

Salazar summoned the police, who arrived quickly, and Salazar described the assailant to them and gave them the license number. Later that night, Detective Mark Wilson drove him to somewhere in Palos Verdes, where Salazar identified appellant and his car in a field show-up.

Detective James Heitmeyer of the Gardena Police Department testified that he obtained appellant's address and photograph from DMV records with the license number supplied by the witness. When appellant arrived home a few hours after the killing, Heitmeyer and other officers detained him. After they escorted him to the curb to wait for the witness, appellant said to Heitmeyer, â€