CA Unpub Decisions

On February 26, 2019, the People filed a juvenile wardship petition alleging the minor, who was then 13 years old, had committed a robbery. (Pen. Code, § 211.) The minor resolved the petition by admitting an attempted robbery. (§§ 664/221.) According to the stipulated factual basis for the plea, the minor kicked the victim in an attempt to obtain money from her backpack. The juvenile court adjudged the minor a ward of the court (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602) and placed him on probation with various terms and conditions, including that he serve 52 days of home confinement with credit for 45 days served, complete 24 hours of community service, and pay a $100 restitution fine.

Coyle worked for SMUD for 31 years until she retired on March 4, 2016. In 2009, she was diagnosed with cancer and received accommodations and medical leave from SMUD as a result of the cancer and treatment. On March 7, 2017, one year and three days after her retirement, Coyle filed a DFEH administrative complaint alleging SMUD discriminated against her under FEHA during her career at SMUD. Also on March 7, 2017, DFEH issued a right to sue letter.
On March 13, 2017, Coyle filed this action against SMUD. She alleged four FEHA causes of action: violation of the California Family Rights Act, disability discrimination, failure to engage in the interactive process, and failure to accommodate. Coyle alleged she was constructively discharged on March 7, 2016, which was actually three days after she retired.

Defendant and appellant Blannon Du Bose (defendant) appeals from an order summarily denying his petition for vacatur and resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95.
In October 2021, defendant filed a motion to vacate his 1982 murder conviction. In the body of the pro se petition, defendant alternatively refers to his application as a motion to vacate and as a petition for writ of coram nobis. As defendant based his request for relief on section 1170.95, the trial court treated it as a petition for vacatur and resentencing pursuant to that section, and summarily denied it due to missing allegations. Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal from the order.
Appointed counsel filed a brief raising no issues and asked that this court conduct an independent review for arguable issues pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.

Because the alleged failure to comply with the inquiry requirements of ICWA and related California law is the sole basis for Mother’s appeal, we recite only those facts pertinent to this claim.
I. Parents’ Prior Dependency Proceedings
Mother had a prior dependency court matter involving her child born in 2018. That matter was closed after an independent adoption when the child was one month old. The parties do not point us to any evidence of an ICWA inquiry or determination in that proceeding.
E.E.’s father (Father) has another child, S.E. (E.E.’s biological half sibling), born in 2007. Father’s parental rights were terminated with respect to S.E. in 2017. In that matter, the juvenile court found that the ICWA did not apply to S.E based on S.E.’s mother’s testimony on behalf of Father when Father was not present in court.
II. Active Dependency Proceedings

In 2003, a jury convicted appellant of ten counts of lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14 years of age (Pen. Code, § 288, subd. (a)). He was sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison. On count 8, the base count, appellant received the upper term of eight years. On each of the remaining counts, counts 9 through 17, he was sentenced to two years -- one-third the middle term of six years. Counts 1 through 7 were dismissed pursuant to section 1385.
Appellant’s petition, which was filed in 2019, requested resentencing based on mental health issues related to his prior military service.

David is Robert’s father. Patty is David’s wife. Grace is Robert’s minor daughter.
In 2013, Robert was granted joint legal custody of Grace with Grace’s mother, Sally Talavera, in family law case No. MF006143. The April 11, 2013 custody order gave Talavera physical custody of Grace. Talavera subsequently relinquished physical custody of Grace to David and Patty, who were appointed as Grace’s legal guardians in 2015 in Los Angeles Superior Court case No. BP157995.
In 2015, David and Patty obtained a five-year restraining order against Robert that expired in May 2020. David filed a petition for the DVRO that is the subject of this appeal in November 2020.
At the February 5, 2021 and March 15, 2021 hearing on David’s DVRO petition, David, Patty, and Robert testified about incidents described in David’s declaration in support of the petition. David testified that on September 28, 2020 and again a few days later, Robert appeared at David’s home, unannounced and uninvited.

The parties married in 2003. They separated in 2014, and the marriage was dissolved in 2016. In 2016 the trial court did not order the payment of spousal support. It found that respondent “has no ability to pay spousal support after payment of child support . . . and the common necessaries of life.” The court stated, “Both parties fully understand the goal of becoming self-supporting, and the Court hereby issues a GAVRON admonition to both parties. Marriage of Gavron (1988) 203 [Cal.App.3d] 705, 711-712.” “[W]hat has become known as a ‘Gavron warning’ is a fair warning to the supported spouse [that] he or she is expected to become self-supporting.” (In re Marriage of Schmir (2005) 134 Cal.App.4th 43, 55.)
In April 2019 respondent filed a request for an order terminating the trial court’s jurisdiction over spousal support. The court denied the request “based upon the length of the marriage and the earning potential of both parties."

Maricela Marquez and her mother Maria Medina were driving home from a quinceañera on the night of December 1, 2018, when appellant's car crossed into their lane and collided head on with Marquez’s SUV. Medina suffered catastrophic blunt force injuries when her passenger-side airbag failed to deploy. She died shortly after paramedics arrived. Marquez’s airbag deployed and she escaped with minor injuries.
First responders found Morales in the other car semi-conscious and smelling of alcohol. They transported him to Marion Regional Medical Center (MRMC) where surgeons repaired fractures of the hip, tibia, and sternum. They noted a prior head injury in his medical records and ran a CT scan. This revealed a small subarachnoid hemorrhage, but surgeons refrained from operating on his brain when no further bleeding appeared in a scan the next morning. His blood alcohol level measured 0.157 percent two and a half hours after the collision.

Factual summary in appellate opinion
“On July 3, 1990, Judy Adams, assistant manager of the San Fernando swap meet, packaged the daily receipts and took the money bags to the car of Barney Pipkin, the manager. Two other swap meet employees were assisting in loading the car. Ricardo Roldan ran up to Pipkin with a gun and said ‘Don’t f*****g move.’ As Roldan aimed the gun at Adams, it made a clicking noise. Pipkin, who had a hearing disability, continued to put the bags in the trunk. Sergio Ayala then approached the car, grabbed the money bags, and ran towards the swap meet exit. Pipkin ran after Ayala, and Roldan followed. Ayala ran to a white Firebird driven by appellant. Meanwhile, Adams phoned the police. Juan Jimenez, a security guard, chased after Ayala. Jimenez yelled to Roland Teal, another security guard, to help him. Teal followed Ayala in his van, and Jimenez followed in the car of one of the vendors.

Appellant was convicted of sodomizing his niece L.C., who was eight years old when she testified at his trial. Beginning in 2012, when L.C. was six years old, she and her mother Maria (the sister of appellant’s wife Enedelia Gaspar) often spent the night at her grandparents’ house. L.C. slept in a bedroom with appellant, Gaspar, and their three-year-old son. Appellant slept in the same bed as L.C. and on numerous occasions put his hand on her vagina and touched her vagina and buttocks with his penis. Appellant had also put his penis in her anus several times when she was five or six years old.
In January 2013, L.C. told Maria about the abuse. L.C. told Maria she did not come to her earlier or scream out during the incidents because she was afraid. Maria confronted Gaspar about the allegations but waited three months to go to the police because she was confused and conflicted about the situation.

In 2015, Fielder pled guilty to the second degree murder of Elvia Romero and was sentenced to 15 years to life. (§ 187, subd. (b)(1); § 186.22, subd. (b)(1).) He filed a section 1170.95 form petition on February 6, 2020, declaring he was neither a direct aider and abettor in the murder nor a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life. He failed to check a box stating he was not the actual killer.
Fielder attached two letters to his petition. One was a 2005 letter written by a deputy district attorney requesting secure housing for him. In it, she explained Fielder “admitted he shot Elvia Romero” at the direction of fellow gang members. Romero died of a heart attack after being shot in the hip and leg. Fielder testified against a co-defendant in a separate trial.
The second letter was stamped received by the Board of Parole Hearings on September 14, 2016. It was written by one of the two detectives assigned to Fielder’s case.

In 2019, Sarwari was granted a civil harassment restraining order against Shakirullah Lodin.
In January 2021, Sarwari filed an application for an order to show cause regarding contempt of the restraining order. (All subsequent dates are in 2021.) The application, which is not included in the record on appeal, was granted in February, but in April the court vacated the order granting the application on its own motion, based on its conclusion from the record that the application had not been properly served on Lodin. The court scheduled a hearing on the application to take place in May.
At the May hearing, where Sarwari and her counsel appeared by means of the BlueJeans remote platform and Lodin and his counsel appeared in person, the court continued the matter to August “for service of the application.”
At the August hearing, Sarwari, Lodin, and their counsel appeared via BlueJeans.

Defendant Caleb Fox entered pleas of no contest and not guilty by reason of insanity (NGI) to one felony count of false imprisonment to avoid arrest (Pen. Code , § 210.5), and he admitted personally using a weapon during the commission of the offense (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). He was found not guilty by reason of insanity (§ 1026, subd. (a)). Pursuant to that finding, he was committed to the Department of State Hospitals on January 28, 2014, with a maximum commitment date of April 23, 2021.
On November 17, 2020, the District Attorney filed a petition to extend Mr. Fox’s commitment for two years pursuant to section 1026.5. Mr. Fox personally waived his right to a jury trial, and the trial court conducted a bench trial on three days in August 2021. On August 30, 2021, the court granted the petition and extended Mr. Fox’s commitment to April 23, 2023.
Appointed counsel has filed an opening brief setting forth the relevant law and facts but raising no specific issues.

Defendant was paid by the department to provide in-home support services to two elderly women. Under the needs assessment done by the department, the first client was entitled to six hours a month for house cleaning, four hours and 45 minutes a week for meal preparation, two hours and 40 minutes a week for meal clean-up, one hour a week for laundry, one hour and 30 minutes a week for grocery shopping and other errands, 42 minutes a week to assist with bathing and getting dressed, 16 minutes a week for ambulation assistance with doctors appointments and 30 minutes a week for accompanying her to her medical appointments. After receiving a report that the client’s home was not habitable, a social worker visited the client’s home to perform a welfare check. At that time, he found that the home was covered in dried dog feces and urine, “the kitchen was not clean,” the entire home “smelled horrible,” and everything was so dirty “you didn’t want to sit down.”