CA Unpub Decisions

Defendant William Savage appeals a judgment entered upon his plea of no contest to felony vandalism (Pen. Code, § 594, subd. (b)(1)) and misdemeanor criminal threats (§ 422). His counsel has filed an opening brief raising no issues and asking this court for an independent review of the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) Defendant has been apprised of his right to personally file a supplemental brief, but he has not done so.

Defendant Ali Abdul Malik appeals from a judgment entered upon his no contest plea to first degree burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459-460 ). He asserts only sentencing error, contending that the trial court abused its discretion by declining to dismiss his prior “strike” conviction under People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero). We find no error and affirm the judgment.

Appeal from orders of the Superior Court of Orange County, Gary L. Moorhead, Judge. Affirmed.
Melissa A. Chaitin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Leon J. Page, County Counsel, Karen L. Christensen and Aurelio Torre, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent
No appearance for the Minor.
The juvenile court assumed jurisdiction over an infant, removed the baby from his mentally ill mother who was not feeding him and ordered custody with the father. Immediately thereafter, the court dismissed the dependency proceedings. Finding no error, we affirm the findings and orders of the court.

A jury found defendant and appellant Cameron Ansel Mitchell guilty of deliberate and premeditated attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 664, subd. (a)), torture (206), and first degree residential burglary of an inhabited dwelling (§§ 459, 460, subd. (a), 667.5, subd. (c)(21)). The jury also found true enhancements for personally using a dangerous or deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and personally inflicting great bodily injury under circumstances involving domestic violence (§ 12022.7, subd. (e)). The trial court sentenced Mitchell to a total term of 19 years to life based on consecutive sentences for the attempted murder and burglary counts and the enhancements for the attempted murder count. The court stayed the sentence on the torture count and the enhancements for the burglary count.

Appellant April H., mother of K.G., contends the Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency (agency) failed to comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.; ICWA), in that it failed to make an adequate inquiry regarding K.G.’s potential Indian heritage. Consequently, mother contends the juvenile court erred in finding the ICWA was inapplicable to K.C. and in terminating her parental rights. We agree the ICWA notice was deficient and remand with directions.

Gaspar Drake, an inmate at Corcoran State Prison, was convicted of battery on a nonprisoner and obstructing a correctional officer in the performance of his duties. Drake argues reversal is required because the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded evidence concerning the victim’s past use of excessive force. We conclude no error occurred because the proposed testimony had very little, if any relevance, to the issue before the jury. We reach this conclusion because, according to the undisputed testimony, the correctional officer at which the proposed testimony was directed never touched Drake during this incident. Since this correctional officer could not have used excessive force in this case, the proposed testimony was properly excluded.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Michael A. Smith, Judge. (Retired judge of the San Bernardino Super. Ct. assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to art. VI, § 6 of the Cal. Const.) Affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded for resentencing; affirmed as modified.
Cliff Gardner, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Carlos Dubose.
Mark D. Johnson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Davion Whitmore.
Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Barry Carlson and Christopher P. Beesley, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Richard R. Monroy, Judge. Affirmed.
Joshua L. Siegel, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Barry Carlton and Sabrina Y. Lane-Erwin, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
A jury found defendant and appellant Kedrin Haas guilty of attempted first degree burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459 & 664; count 1), and disobeying a court order (§ 166, subd. (a)(4); count 2). The court sentenced defendant to three years' formal probation.
On appeal, defendant contends that the court erred when it failed to instruct the jury on the alleged lesser included and lesser related offense of attempted trespass, and when it refused to give a similar pinpoint instruction, in connection with count 1; that the prosecutor prejudicially erred during closi

D.G. (Father) appeals from orders denying his request for an evidentiary hearing pursuant to his Welfare and Institutions Code section 388 petition, setting the matter for a section 366.26 hearing, terminating his parental rights, and ordering adoption for Q.G. Father’s sole contention on appeal is that the juvenile court erred by denying his section 388 petition without a hearing. We affirm.

Appellant Darryl Lee Goldstein appeals from a judgment entered upon his plea of no contest, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress. His appeal is authorized by Penal Code section 1538.5, subdivision (m).
On July 25 and August 10, 2016, respectively, appellant filed a “Request for Court’s Assistance (Law Library Pro Per Use)” and a request to represent himself in propria persona. Those requests were denied on October 7, 2016.
Appellant’s court appointed counsel has filed a brief raising no legal issues and asking this court to conduct an independent review of the record pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436. Counsel has advised appellant that he may personally file a supplemental brief raising any issues he wishes to call to the court’s attention, but appellant has filed no such brief.

Defendant Javon Strong appeals a judgment convicting him of first degree murder and sentencing him to a term of 25 years to life in prison. He contends his constitutional rights were violated by the admission at trial of his girlfriend’s involuntary statements to the police. We find no error and thus shall affirm the judgment.
On September 6, 2011, defendant was charged with a single count of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)).
Prior to trial, defendant moved to exclude statements made by his girlfriend, Ineshia Elder, to police during an interview on August 18, 2008, on the ground that the statements were unreliable and impermissibly coerced. The prosecutor argued that defendant was collaterally estopped from re-litigating the issue because he had raised the same issue at the preliminary hearing and the trial court had found the statements voluntary and not the product of coercion. The trial judge denied the motion to exclude the statement, explaining, “I have reviewed [the

This case is confirmation of our fathers’ repeated adjurations to “get the oil changed.” In this opinion we affirm a judgment for about $28,000 obtained by the plaintiff who, in 2004, purchased a used 1995 Lamborghini Diablo, against a mechanical engineer who attempted to restore the Diablo to correct working order after the car’s engine caught fire thanks to a history of less-than-sufficiently-frequent oil changes. The judgment consists of $8,000 for a prepaid 15,000-mile service the mechanical engineer never performed, plus about $20,000 for the car’s engine which the mechanical engineer had taken apart and never put back together. In seeking reversal of the judgment, the mechanical engineer points to a series of four alleged irregularities in the court trial of the case, but we find none persuasive and affirm the judgment.

Anthony Aulisio, Jr., as trustee of the CAAJ Leasing Trust, (hereafter Aulisio) appeals from the defense verdict and judgment entered after a jury found the defendant homeowners association management company, security patrol company, and vehicle towing company did not wrongfully cause his Jeep automobile (Jeep) to be towed, retained in a tow yard, and converted or sold. Aulisio contends we must reverse the judgment because of judicial bias and instructional error. He also argues the trial court should not have incorporated a judgment on the pleadings when it entered judgment based on the jury’s verdict. As we explain, there is no basis for reversal, and we therefore affirm the judgment.

Amy Winslow appeals from the trial court’s denial of her motion for a new trial and from the underlying trial court judgment approving petitions by Mary E. Morgan (Morgan) to approve three accountings she performed as the successor trustee of Robert W. Rieniets’s Separate Property Trust (the trust). Morgan and Winslow are two among several of the deceased settlor’s grandchildren, each entitled under the trust to a two and one-half (2.5) percent share of trust assets, while the bulk of the trust (85 percent) went to other beneficiaries. Only Winslow objected to Morgan’s accountings, and she points to nothing in the record to show she did so timely under the trust’s 90-day window for written objections. On appeal, Winslow raises a host of issues, including challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the trial court’s decision to approve the accountings and to impose $60,059.33 in sanctions against her. (See Prob. Code, § 17211, subd. (a) [providing for sanct