In re Richard
| Decision Date | 31 July 2003 |
| Docket Number | B159116. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | In re RICHARD R., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RICHARD R., Defendant and Appellant. |
Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Tia Fisher, Temporary Judge. (Pursuant to Cal. Const., art. VI, § 21.). Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KJ22064.
Affirmed.
Jerry Sies, 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, Jamie L. Fuster, Supervising Deputy Attorney General and Michelle J. Pirozzi, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
This appeal follows the adjudication and disposition of two Welfare and Institutions Code section 602 petitions that were filed regarding appellant Richard R. in 2002. Appellant admitted the charges in the first petition, filed January 16, 2002, one count of unlawful driving/taking a vehicle (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)) and one count of felony evading a police officer (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a)), allegedly committed on November 17, 2001. The juvenile court found both offenses to be felonies; ordered probation; and granted deferred entry of judgment for not less than 12 months nor more than 36 months pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 790. The court explained to appellant and his family that if appellant complied with the conditions, the case would be dismissed; if not, the court would revoke the section 790 deferred entry of judgment and proceed to disposition or sentencing. The court specifically told appellant that "you would be a most likely candidate for camp."
Less than two months later, the incident giving rise to the second petition occurred.1 The section 790 order was initially ordered to remain in force and affect. The probation officer interviewed the victim and appellant and recommended that appellant be found in violation of probation, the section 790 order be vacated and set aside, and appellant be committed to the Camp Community Placement Program. At a hearing on April 24, 2002, the court again ordered the section 790 order remain in full force and effect. The court was advised that further investigation was needed.
On May 2, 2002, the juvenile court again continued the matter for further preparation. On May 7, 2002, the court held an adjudication hearing and sustained both counts in the second petition (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1), assault with a deadly weapon and by means likely to produce great bodily injury and Pen. Code, § 136.1, subd. (b)(1), dissuading a witness from reporting a crime), filed April 5, 2002, but struck the criminal street gang special allegation (Pen. Code § 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) for failure of proof.2 Appellant was found to be a ward of the court pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 602. At the dispositional hearing held the same day, the section 790 order was terminated; custody was taken from appellant's parents; and he was committed to the probation department for placement in the violent offender program. After aggregating the two petitions, the court set the maximum term of conferment at five years and four months. The court imposed a gang registration order pursuant to Penal Code section 186.30, subdivision (3). This appeal follows. Concluding there was no reversible error, we shall affirm.
Christian L., a 14-year-old student at Ganesha High School in Pomona, was walking home from school on April 2, 2002, with his friend David S. when appellant and Hector G. approached them on bicycles in an alleyway, which Christian took as his usual shortcut home. Christian knew Hector as a student at school "as a friend" he had known his whole life; he had seen appellant but did not really know him. Christian started running as fast as he could; when he stopped, appellant started beating him up. Appellant, whom Christian knew as "Capper," said and told the victim to say "Fuck Twelfth Street."3 Appellant punched and kicked him; Christian's nose started bleeding from the initial punch to his face, and he fell to the ground, where appellant continued to punch and kick him. He was punched in the face and chest and kicked in his back. Appellant continued to say David just stood there.
When appellant stopped kicking and punching, appellant told Hector to start hitting Christian. Hector started hitting the victim, who was still on the ground, on the face, neck and chest with closed fists. While the victim was sitting down and facing the ground, Hector pulled out a four-inch folding knife about a foot in front of the victim's face. Christian also believed a knife was at his throat when somebody had their arm around him and saw this in the video shown in court.4
Appellant and Hector then grabbed Christian and stood him up; Hector held him in a headlock. Both of them held up Christian, and Hector told him to go under the bridge; Christian replied "No, No." At some point while Hector was holding the standing victim, Hector said "I should kill you right now."5 Appellant then started socking the victim again as Hector held him. Both of the assailants told Christian he better not tell anybody else what happened. Then the beating started again.
The victim was injured, with bumps and bruises to his head, face, chest, abdomen and back area. There was a footprint on his back from where appellant kicked him and a bruise the pattern of a shoe print on his right shoulder.6 He testified he did not fight back. Photographs taken by the Ganesha High School police officer show bruising to Christian's face and chest and a bruise to his shoulder and back; the police officer verified the injuries, including the imprint bruise of a shoe on Christian's back. The shoes appellant, who was associated with Westside Pomona,7 wore to school the next day matched the imprint on Christian's back.
Appellant and Hector rode their bikes towards the school. Christian ran to a local fast food restaurant and tried to call his father. When he saw the school police officer, who took photographs, Christian declined medical treatment.
On cross-examination, Christian admitted he had been in trouble with the principal, police, and his parents for fighting.
By the time of trial, he was in ninth grade; he had last been in a fight before this incident when he was in seventh grade. He had seen both appellant and Hector earlier in the day at school but there had been no confrontation. He had done nothing that day to make him afraid of them. However, in the past, on several occasions appellant would "yell out stuff" to him that would make Christian afraid, such as calling Christian a "little bitch."
On the day of the incident, there was a rally in the gym at school and appellant threw up "W" signs at Christian. The victim denied making any type of gesture toward appellant or Hector during the rally, having a knife earlier in the day or ever, ever touching the knife, or throwing any punches.8 He also denied being in the alley to tag for Twelfth Street; he admitted having friends in Twelfth Street.9 He agreed that Hector's mother had come to visit him a week or two before the hearing but denied telling her that he and David had knives; he also denied telling her he was sorry that he and David started the fight.
Christian admitted entering the alleyway through a hole in the fence, not at the entrance at either end of the alleyway. As he did so, he saw appellant and Hector riding their bikes at one entrance to the alleyway, but he did not anticipate a fight.
Appellant, a tenth grader, testified in his own defense. He admitted he hung around with people from the Westside Pomona gang but was not "from there" and did not tell the school police officer he was. He denied knowing Christian as an acquaintance or friend, having any conflicts with him, throwing a gang sign at him, or calling him a little bitch. Appellant denied having a knife or telling Hector to use a knife. His version of the incident was that at the school rally, when the boys were across the gym from each other, Christian drew a thumb across Christian's throat, a gesture that threatened appellant. Appellant saw a "chrome piece" which he thought was a knife in Christian's hand.10
According to appellant, he was angry with Christian and "just wanted to ask him who he was slicing his throat to" and was going to confront him about that. Christian had mentioned around school that he had a cousin from the Twelfth Street gang.
Appellant had not arranged to meet Christian that day after school, nor did he expect to see him. Nevertheless, riding his bicycle as shown on the video, he saw Christian and David in the alleyway. When he saw Christian, appellant thought he would go after him to ask why Christian had been slashing his throat in that gesture. Appellant was not afraid of Christian, because "he is, like, smaller than me." Appellant admitted confronting Christian and, when Christian talked back, throwing the first hard punch, and then kicking Christian when he was down. Appellant was not then afraid and backed away; he testified that Christian then took out a knife.
a slightly different version of his testimony, appellant thought Christian was going to take out his knife and try to do something with it. Christian's hand was at the side near his pocket; he was not then holding a weapon. According to appellant, he first saw the knife Appellant kept socking Christian, and the knife fell to the floor. Christian fell down and was going to get up when appellant kicked him hard in the back. Appellant admitted that David was standing...
To continue reading
Request your trial