P. v. Pittman
Filed 3/21/06 P. v. Pittman CA2/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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 ONE
| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SHANE LAMAR PITMAN, Defendant and Appellant. | B181040 (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. LA044588) |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Kathryne A. Stoltz, Judge. Affirmed.
David M. Thompson, 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, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Shawn McGahey Webb, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
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Shane Lamar Pitman was convicted of one count of causing injury while driving under the influence of alcohol, one count of causing injury while driving with a blood alcohol content exceeding .08 percent, and four counts of making criminal threats, with findings that he had suffered two prior convictions that qualified as strikes and serious felonies and served three prior prison terms. He was sentenced to state prison for a term of 25 years to life plus five years. Pitman appeals, claiming (I) Miranda error and (II) instructional error, and (III) challenging the trial court's refusal to reduce the criminal threats convictions to misdemeanors and refusal to dismiss at least one of his prior strikes. We reject these claims and affirm the judgment.
FACTS
A.
After dark on December 2, 2003, Pitman (driving a Ford Taurus) crashed into Maria Castro's car (a Toyota Matrix), pushing the Toyota into the driver's side of David Kreuz's tow truck (which was stopped at a red light), then careened off Castro's Toyota into a Ford Focus occupied by Joyce DuBois and her 12-year-old son, Michael.
Just before the collision, Kreuz saw Pitman's Taurus â€
