People v. Ibach
| Decision Date | 29 October 2020 |
| Docket Number | A158432 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ANTHONY WILLIAM IBACH, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
(Sonoma County Super. Ct. No. SCR715405)
Anthony William Ibach appeals from his conviction after a jury trial of the voluntary manslaughter of Corey Vaughn with a knife, for which Ibach was sentenced to seven years in state prison. Ibach makes three claims of error: that the trial court (1) prejudicially abused its discretion by admitting the evidence of Ibach's previous uncharged acts of violence; (2) prejudicially erred in instructing the jury, thereby fatally undermining his theories of self-defense; and (3) erred by imposing certain fines and fees. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the uncharged acts evidence; Ibach's instructional error claim lacks merit; and Ibach has forfeited his claim of error regarding fines and fees. We therefore affirm.
In a November 2018 information, the Sonoma County District Attorney charged Ibach with the murder of Cory Allen Vaughn (Pen. Code, § 1871) and alleged that Ibach both personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), and personally inflicted great bodily injury on Vaughn (§§ 1203.075, 12022.7). A jury trial followed in May 2019, at which Ibach claimed he acted in self-defense when he killed Vaughn during a mid-day fight on April 21, 2018.
Ibach and Vaughn were young men who had attended the same high school in Sebastopol, California and knew people in common, including many of the witnesses we will discuss. Around the 2018 New Year, Ibach became upset that Osiris Zamora had sold a PlayStation 4 console to another person, who had made a higher bid for it than Ibach had. He exchanged hostile messages with Zamora and Zamora's close friend, Vaughn, using the mobile software application Snapchat. On January 30, 2018, Ibach implied to Zamora that they should fight, saying he "really aint hard to find." Vaughn responded that same day, stating, "I seen screen shot who think you is bruh on sum Sum gangsta shit," and, apparently regarding Zamora, "You know he my folks, you got problems with him [unintelligible] me to[o]." The next day, Ibach asked Vaughn what his "beef" was, and Vaughn wrote back about "knocking mfs down." Ibach responded that he had known Zamora since childhood and added, Vaughn called Ibach a "Pussy boi" who would get "smacked." Ibachsaid he had never disrespected or crossed Vaughn and repeated, "Make your move."
Ibach did not have any more contact with Zamora or Vaughn until April 21, 2018. That day, a party was held at a Sebastopol apartment to celebrate the local Apple Blossom Festival, where about 30 people drank liquor and played games. Zamora testified that he drove with Vaughn to a restaurant parking lot next door to the apartment complex, parked and walked toward the party. He saw Ibach walk from the complex's driveway to the parking lot and stand by his car. Zamora and Vaughn said "what's up" to Ibach from a distance, and Ibach pulled out bear mace. Vaughn told him to put it away and "get the fuck out of there." Zamora told Vaughn that Ibach was a "pussy" and that they should go to the party, and the two left.
Andy Noonan, one of the party attendees, testified that he also drove to the restaurant parking lot, where Ibach drove up and asked Noonan where the party was located, said he had a "beef" with Vaughn, walked around looking angry with a large flashlight and eventually drove away. While Noonan was at the party, Ibach sent him a Snapchat message that he wanted a "2x2," meaning a fight of two against two. Noonan responded that he did not want to be involved. He did not talk about this exchange with Vaughn, but saw Vaughn leave a short time later, "probably" because of what Noonan told someone else. Noonan left to watch what he expected would be a fight, along with Mark Ainger, Zamora and Haley Graham.
Ibach was by his car in the restaurant parking lot with another man, Okeem Pusey. Pusey testified that Ibach, with whom he had become friendly after moving to the area a few years before, picked him up around noon that day to get something to eat. They had no plan to go to Sebastopol, and Pusey did not pay much attention to where Ibach was driving. Instead, he looked athis phone and slept. Then, Pusey noticed Ibach drive into an open parking lot, park and talk on a speaker phone to a male about two guys who had threatened him, and say, "tell them to come out." Pusey surmised from Ibach's phone conversation that they were there because Ibach had had problems with some people. Pusey decided not to fight. He saw "a lot of people walking out to the parking lot," including people with their shirts off. Ibach reached for a wooden baseball bat in the back of the car, but Pusey took it and put it behind his seat, and the two got out of the car.
Several witnesses testified about the fight and the events leading up to it, and a video recording taken on a mobile phone depicting some of the fight was played for the jury. It is not disputed that upon reaching the restaurant parking lot Zamora verbally confronted Pusey; Pusey indicated he was not going to, and did not, fight; Vaughn and Ibach were in a confrontation with each other and moved around the parking lot (whether or not others joined in the confrontation); Vaughn did not have a weapon and Ibach did not brandish one during the fight; the confrontation lasted a matter of moments; at the end of the fight, Ibach took out a knife and slashed Vaughn twice in the torso; Ibach then ran to his car and drove away; and Vaughn fell to the ground bleeding heavily and died there from a wound to the heart. The parties debate who was the aggressor in the fight and whether more people than just Vaughn fought and/or acted aggressively toward Ibach.
The testimony of Jared Ostello, Haley Graham, Mark Ainger, Zamora and Noonan provided support for the prosecution's position that Ibach acted aggressively and that only he and Vaughn fought. Ostello testified that he knew Vaughn and Ibach, he was best friends with Noonan and he wasGraham's cousin, and he recorded the video on his phone that the jury viewed. He said Ibach and Vaughn yelled at each other in the restaurant parking lot and Vaughn took off his shirt. No one else was immediately around Ibach. Vaughn and Ibach moved around the parking lot swinging at each other without landing punches and the fight became more intense. Vaughn, whom Ostello had seen fight well before, seemed to be fighting defensively. Ibach said "get back" just before he slashed Vaughn with a knife.
Graham, who was in a relationship with Noonan that extended back to the time of the fight, testified that Vaughn and Ibach started throwing punches at each other in the restaurant parking lot, but she did not recall any punches landing. She added that Vaughn moved backwards but was getting the better of Ibach before he was stabbed, the people watching were "pretty far" from Vaughn and Ibach, and no one else fought.
Ainger testified that he was close friends with Vaughn, who died in his arms, and that he did not know Ibach. At the party, after someone called Noonan about fighting, Vaughn told Ainger to come with him and went outside. Ainger, who had his shirt off at some point, went outside to make sure that Vaughn was safe. He saw Vaughn and Ibach argue and swing at each other. He got between them to break up their fight, but he stopped when others said to let them fight one on one. He did not put his hands on Ibach and did not see anyone else join in the fight.
Zamora testified that while he was at the party he had conversations with Vaughn, Ainger and Noonan; that Noonan led him to believe he was supposed to go outside and fight; that he went outside after Vaughn ran out; that when he reached the restaurant parking lot, Vaughn and Ibach were throwing punches at each other, with some connecting, as Ainger stood 10 to15 feet away; and that no one else joined in the fight or tried to stop it. Zamora said he looked away from the fight for a moment and when he turned back Vaughn had two big gashes on his torso. Zamora tried to stop Ibach, but he ran to his car and drove away.
Andy Noonan testified that he was equally friendly with Ibach and Vaughn. He and others left the party to watch the fight, and when he reached the restaurant parking lot, Vaughn and Ibach were already squared off and shuffling around. He did not see them throw any punches or see anyone else fight, but he did see Ibach "slice" Vaughn and run away.
The video taken by Ostello, which is not itself in the record, was less than 40 seconds long, and showed Vaughn and Ibach confronting each other while others stood further away. As indicated in testimony about the video by Ostello and photographic stills from it, Vaughn and Ibach were somewhat apart from the others as they squared off against each other. A transcript of the video given to the jury to aid its review of the video is contained in the record, and it indicates that one or more "unidentified male[s]" said, "Back the fuck up!," "Back up!" and, "Let him have it!"
The testimony of Pusey and a restaurant employee provided support for Ibach's position that Vaughn and others acted aggressively towards him. Pusey testified that a group of about six people, including two men with their shirts off, approached Ibach and him as they stood by Ibach's car in the parking lot. One of the...
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