CA Unpub Decisions

In 1983, Keaton pleaded guilty to a single count of first degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life. As part of the plea agreement, a robbery-murder special circumstances allegation was dismissed. The murder charge arose from a 1981 residential burglary during which 70-year-old Lawrence Mason was robbed and severely beaten. Mason was in a coma for four months before succumbing to his injuries.

About 36 years later, in 2019, Keaton filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to section 1170.95. In support of his petition, Keaton filed several briefs, attaching, as relevant here, a partial transcript of the August 1981 preliminary hearing transcript containing testimony of Detective Addison Arce and Officer Michael Albanese, the December 1981 preliminary hearing transcript containing the testimony of Manuel Hernandez, a medical doctor, and Mary Mason , the autopsy report, and declarations from Keaton.

In 1991, Caraveo pleaded guilty to one count of second degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and admitted that he was armed with a firearm in the commission of the offense (§ 12022, subd. (a)(1).) The trial court sentenced him to 16 years to life in prison.
In 2018, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 1437), which abolished the natural and probable consequences doctrine in cases of murder and limited the application of the felony murder doctrine. (See People v. Gentile (2020) 10 Cal.5th 830, 842–843 (Gentile).) The legislation also enacted section 1170.95, which established a procedure for vacating murder convictions for defendants who could no longer be convicted of murder because of the changes in the law and resentencing those who were so convicted. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 4, pp. 6675–6677.)
Caraveo filed a petition for resentencing under section 1170.95 on January 14, 2019.

K.A. testified that, on October 7, 2019, she and her friend J.G. took a bus to Ralphs with J.C. and J.B. K.A. had ingested two beers before she boarded the bus. The group met up with R.E. and went to the rooftop of a building in North Hollywood, where they drank alcohol together. They intended to get drunk and then go home. K.A. drank five mouthfuls of alcohol and felt “very tipsy.” She had never been so drunk. K.A. remembered talking, J.G. and J.C. dancing, and music playing on her phone. She remembered J.G., who was also intoxicated, kissing J.C. and J.B. K.A. passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was lying on the ground and her whole body hurt. She thought she fell over. R.E. took a video of K.A. while she was on the ground. Someone shook her and tried to wake her up, but she remembered nothing after that. K.A. did not consent to any sexual contact or kissing with R.E., J.C., or J.B. while they were on the roof.

On August 31, 1984, police found Ebora Alexander, age 58, dead in her Los Angeles home from multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Alexander apparently had been shot while sitting at her kitchen table having breakfast. Police also discovered the bodies of Alexander’s 24-year-old daughter Dietria and two of Alexander’s grandsons, ages 13 and eight. All three had been shot execution style in their beds. (Williams I, supra, 16 Cal.4th at pp. 647, 649.)
About six months later, detectives arrested Williams in Northern California. After waiving his Miranda rights, Williams first told the officers he’d heard about the murders but he hadn’t been involved. Later, he admitted he’d been at the Alexander house but claimed he’d run away as soon as the other man who was with him, Tiequon Cox, started shooting. (Williams I, supra, 16 Cal.4th at pp. 648, 650, 656.) Both Cox and a third man, Horace Burns, were arrested as well.

Ransford filed a complaint alleging causes of action for wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, failure to pay wages due upon termination (Lab. Code, § 201), and waiting time penalties for failure to pay wages due upon discharge (Lab. Code, § 203). Ransford alleged she began working for SCPMG in September 1999 as a licensed vocational nurse (LVN). She was on medical leave on the following dates: July 21, 2015 to August 8, 2015; September 14, 2015 to October 18, 2015; November 19, 2015 to December 16, 2015; December 28, 2015 to August 22, 2016; and August 31, 2016 to January 22, 2017. Ransford alleged that on January 26, 2017, she received a “Corrective Action Level 4 write-up” that included allegations dating back to 2015. On February 10, 2017, she was suspended following an incident in which she relayed medication instructions to a patient, and was later accused of giving incorrect information to the patien

Shakouri purchased a Tesla Model S on February 27, 2014. The car had a base price of $69,900. With added options including an upgraded 85-kilowatt battery ($10,000), silver cyclone wheels ($2,500), and a “tech package” ($3,750), the total purchase price came to $90,570. The car came with a Tesla Uniform Mobile Connector (UMC) to charge the car.
Within weeks, Shakouri was unhappy with how the car was charging. After several calls to customer service and remote inspections of the car, Shakouri brought the car in for service in August 2014. Tesla found a fault with the UMC and replaced it. Shakouri reported that the charging problems continued, even at Tesla-owned charging stations, and the car had problems with its radio and Bluetooth systems. Another repair was completed in June 2015, and more repairs were completed in October 2015, following an incident in which the car shut down, would not restart, and had to be towed.

On February 16, 2020, Anthony Romo and his wife Priscilla Ocedueda were visiting a deceased loved one at the Resurrection Cemetery in Los Angeles. Romo and his wife went to use the restrooms. Ocedueda went inside, but Romo waited outside because the men’s room was occupied. Three young men, J.V., G.A., and Jorge, were also outside. The three young men were members of the Colonia Flores gang.
As Romo was waiting, a verbal confrontation occurred between Romo and the young men. One of the men asked Romo “if [he] was from anywhere.” The attitude of the men was not friendly. Romo attempted to deescalate the confrontation by replying he was not from anywhere. One of the men asked Romo what he was looking at. Romo said he was not looking at anything. One of the men hit Romo in the face. The other two tried to hit him, but he was able to defend himself.
Romo ran to a grass area. He turned around and heard a gunshot. He saw one of the men holding a handgun.

In February 1986, Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in her Van Nuys home. She had been severely beaten and shot three times in the chest area. During the LAPD’s initial investigation, the “working theory” of the case was that the murder occurred during a “botched burglary” by two men.
In 2003, the Rasmussen case was transferred to the cold case unit of the LAPD’s robbery-homicide division. Cliff Shepard was the cold case unit detective handling the case.
In 2004, Francis worked as a criminalist and DNA analyst in the LAPD’s serology DNA unit. In late 2004, she responded to a request from Shepard to perform DNA analysis of evidence in the Rasmussen case. She reviewed the file and noted that a female coworker of Rasmussen had threatened Rasmussen. The file also revealed that Rasmussen had been bitten on her arm during the attack and that investigators had taken a swab of the bite mark. Francis learned that the swab had never been “booked into LAPD evidence.”

About 2:00 a.m. on February 28, 2015, Merced Police Officer Brian Rinder, who was patrolling for drivers who may be have been under the influence, spotted a burgundy Chrysler 200. Rinder began following the car to look for possible signs that the driver was driving under the influence. As he was following the Chrysler northbound on G Street, Rinder saw it make a left turn without yielding to oncoming traffic. Rinder turned on his red-and-blue traffic enforcement lights to get the vehicle to stop. At first, the driver did not stop, and Rinder called dispatch through his radio to say the car was not pulling over. The driver drove an entire block, then made a right turn before he eventually pulled over in the middle of the block on H Street.
After the Chrysler pulled over, Officer Rinder approached the driver’s side of the vehicle. The car was still running. Rinder asked the driver, later identified as Rincon, for his driver’s license.

In December 2020, appellant was charged by information with felony receipt of a stolen motor vehicle (Pen. Code, § 496d, subd. (a)). According to the preliminary hearing testimony, appellant attempted to register a stolen vehicle; appellant claimed he purchased the vehicle, but neither the seller nor the sale amount stated by appellant matched the bill of sale. In April 2021, appellant pled no contest to misdemeanor receipt of a stolen motor vehicle pursuant to a plea agreement by which appellant would be sentenced to time served with probation and a warrantless search and seizure condition.
In May 2021, appellant filed a motion to withdraw his plea on the ground that his attorney coerced him into pleading no contest.

In November 2016, when defendant was 13 years old, he admitted a violation of Penal Code section 211 (robbery). Over the course of the next four years, he admitted and was found to have committed numerous violations of his probation, including while under the supervision of his grandmother, in an out-of-home placement, and at the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility (OAYRF).
Current Offenses
On February 11, 2021, defendant entered a used car lot, EKE Motorsports, and told the sales associate he was interested in purchasing a vehicle. Defendant was in the driver’s seat inspecting an Audi S5 coupe when he attempted to flee with the vehicle. The sales associate moved in front of the vehicle and jumped on the hood to prevent defendant from leaving. However, because the vehicle was moving forward, the sales associate fell off, and defendant escaped the parking lot.
The sales associate drove another car off the premises in an attempt to locate the stolen vehicle.

Defendant Martin Eng, acting in propria persona, appeals from a default judgment in favor of plaintiff Byrne’s Special Works, LLC (Byrne’s) quieting title to a San Francisco property and cancelling various instruments clouding its title. Eng contends service of process by publication was defective and that the trial court erred by not allowing him to argue at the default prove-up hearing.
We dismiss the appeal. The trial court's judgment is presumed to be correct, and it is the burden of the party challenging it to demonstrate prejudicial error. (Bianco v. California Highway Patrol (1994) 24 Cal.App.4th 1113, 1125.) To do so, the appellant must provide an adequate record (Hotels Nevada, LLC v. L.A. Pacific Center, Inc. (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 336, 348) and reasoned legal argument supported by references to the record and pertinent authority.

Appellant sued respondent in December 2019. He filed his operative second amended complaint in September 2020, alleging a private nuisance claim stemming from the noise generated from respondent’s recyclables, compost, and waste collection activity late at night and early in the morning, and the noise from third-party “dumpster div[ing]” in unlocked collection bins in Maiden Lane, the alleyway below appellant’s apartment in the Union Square District of San Francisco.
In November 2020, appellant requested a preliminary injunction seeking to prohibit respondent from collecting recyclables, compost, and residual waste in Maiden Lane from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and seeking to compel respondent to install locks on collection bins in Maiden Lane.

I. 2020 Leases
The history of how Los Angeles secured the rights to water from Mono and Inyo Counties in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and exported it via aqueduct is well documented in prior decisions, and we need not repeat it here. (See County of Inyo v. City of Los Angeles (1981) 124 Cal.App.3d 1, 3–4.) We pick up the story in 2010, when Los Angeles approved a set of substantively identical leases (2010 Leases) governing about 6,100 acres of land Los Angeles owns in Mono County. Los Angeles deemed the approval of the leases to be categorically exempt from CEQA review because they involved the use of existing structures or facilities with no or negligible expansion of use. (Los Angeles Guidelines for the Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970, art. III, Class 1, ¶14; Cal. Code of Regs., tit. 14, § 15301.)
The 2010 Leases include various provisions concerning water.