CA Unpub Decisions

Plaintiff Luis Valdivia (Valdivia) appeals from a summary judgment in favor of defendant The Ticket Clinic, A Professional Law Corporation (Ticket Clinic). Valdivia, a former employee of the Ticket Clinic, alleged that his former employer failed to comply with its legal obligations to provide accurate wage statements and pay wages. The trial court, after reviewing the wage statements and other evidence, granted summary judgment. Valdivia raises a variety of arguments for each cause of action but has not demonstrated any triable issue of material fact. Accordingly, we affirm.

Clyde Ozell Pittman appeals the judgment entered after a jury convicted him of arson of a structure (Pen. Code, § 451, subd. (c)) and making criminal threats (§ 422, subd. (a)). In a bifurcated proceeding, appellant admitted that he had a prior strike and serious felony conviction (§§ 667, subds. (a)-(j), 1170.12, subd. (b)). The trial court sentenced him to an aggregate term of nine years and four months in state prison, consisting of the midterm of four years for the arson doubled for the strike prior, plus sixteen months (one-third the midterm doubled) for the criminal threat. Appellant contends the court erred in failing to give a unanimity instruction (CALCRIM No. 3500) on the criminal threats count, and in accepting the jury’s verdict in appellant’s absence rather than granting a continuance. We affirm.

Defendant and appellant Ronald Reyes Canedos challenges the trial court’s order finding him in violation of probation and sentencing him to 32 months in prison. He contends that recently enacted legislation limiting the maximum term of probation to two years (see Stats. 2020, ch. 328 (Assembly Bill No. 1950)) applies retroactively to his case. We agree, and we therefore reverse the trial court’s order.

In 2007, a jury convicted Jaliel Rashad Neely of first degree murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187/189) but found the robbery-murder special circumstance allegation “not true.” Neely also was convicted of two counts of attempted second degree robbery (§§ 664/211) and possession of cocaine base for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351.5). (People v. Neely (2009) 176 Cal.App.4th 787, 791, 793 (Neely).) The trial court sentenced him to 25 years to life for first degree murder, a consecutive prison term of 10 years for a firearm enhancement (§ 12022.53), a consecutive term of one year for one attempted robbery, a concurrent term of three years for the second attempted robbery, and a concurrent term of four years for the drug offense. (Neely, at p. 793.) We affirmed the convictions but remanded for resentencing of the determinate terms. (Id. at p. 792.)

Anthony Herrera, convicted after a jury trial in 2004 of attempted murder and robbery, appealed the summary denial of his petition for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95, contending the superior court had erred in ruling section 1170.95 did not apply to attempted murder and denying his petition without appointing counsel and conducting a hearing at which the parties could present evidence. We affirmed the order based on prior decisions from this and other courts of appeal that had rejected identical arguments.

Plaintiff Unified Real Estate Investments, LLC (landlord) appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants Phillip T. Thong, Andrea L. Thong, Ly Hua, Wendy Lam, Heng Henry Hua (Henry Hua), Newport Seafood Restaurant, Inc., Hua Culinary Group, Inc., and Newport Seafood Restaurant, Inc. (collectively, defendants).

A jury convicted Robert Daniel Rivas of multiple crimes after he attacked two victims with a machete. He asserts that his conviction for aggravated mayhem (Pen. Code, § 205) must be reversed for insufficient evidence, and he argues that the trial court erred in returning an initial set of verdict forms to the jury after determining they were irregular. We reject both contentions and affirm the judgment.

A jury found defendant Robert Chavez guilty of assault with a deadly weapon (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1).) On appeal, Chavez argues: (1) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction; (2) the trial court committed multiple instructional errors; and (3) the fines and assessments imposed on him must be stayed or reversed. We affirm

After defendant Jesse Hicks entered pleas in two cases and was sentenced to nine years, four months in prison, he appealed without seeking a certificate of probable cause. Hicks’s appellate counsel asked the court for an independent review of the record under People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende). After independently reviewing the record and considering a supplemental brief submitted by Hicks, we find no arguable issues and affirm.

Defendant Terrell Marquis Franklin was charged with one count of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a), one count of attempted murder (§§ 187, subd. (a), 664), shooting at an inhabited dwelling (§ 246), and first degree residential burglary (§§ 459, 460, subd. (a)). Personal firearm use enhancements were also alleged. Approximately one year later, he agreed to a negotiated disposition, pleading no contest to the attempted murder charge and admitting one of the firearm enhancements. The remaining charges and enhancements were dismissed. He was sentenced to 12 years in state prison.

A jury found defendant Chloe Alexandra James guilty of felony child abuse or endangering the health of a child (Pen. Code, § 273a, subd. (a)) and found true the special allegation that she personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim, D.G., who was under five years old (§ 12022.7, subd. (d)). The court then found James had a prior conviction of a serious felony. (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12.) She was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Defendant Jose Francisco Barajas appeals after a jury found him guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 (Pen. Code, § 288.5, subd. (a); count 1), committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child (§ 288, subd. (c)(1); count 4), and dissuading a witness (§ 136.1, subd. (b)(1); count 6). The jury also found true the allegation regarding count 1 that defendant had engaged in substantial sexual conduct with the victim (§ 1203.066, subd. (a)(8)). The jury found defendant not guilty of sexual penetration of a child under age 14 by a foreign object (§ 289, subd. (j); count 2) and was unable to reach a verdict on two counts of committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child (counts 3 & 5). The trial court sentenced defendant to 16 years in prison.

Around 6:15 p.m. on a Saturday in July 2011, defendant Cesar Rosales committed a drive-by shooting in the parking lot of a Target shopping center, killing Gustavo Diaz Zargoza and wounding Zargoza’s cousin, Esparanza Salazar. Defendant was the passenger in a vehicle driven by fellow gang member Miguel Rodriguez, who testified against defendant at trial.

Plaintiffs Richard Jones and his businesses Preferred Towing Service, LLC and Fast Response Security, Inc. (collectively Jones) appeal from the trial court’s order granting a special anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation motion to strike pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 (“anti-SLAPP motion”) in favor of defendant Connie Reekes. Reekes made numerous Facebook posts critical of Jones and his businesses. Jones sued Reekes for defamation, and in response Reekes filed her anti-SLAPP motion against Jones. Jones claims the trial court erred in its determination that Jones’s defamation claims against Reekes were time-barred, having been posted to the internet website in question more than one year prior to the commencement of Jones’s defamation action. Jones alleges the discovery rule and the republication rule apply and delayed the accrual of his defamation cause of action until June 2020 when a third party showed him saved screenshots of posts.