People v. Pavlic
| Decision Date | 29 December 2014 |
| Docket Number | E059002 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. MICHAEL PAUL PAVLIC, Defendant and Appellant. |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
OPINIONAPPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Angel M. Bermudez, Judge. Affirmed.
Kyle D. Smith, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina and Minh U. Le, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
A jury found defendant and appellant, Michael Paul Pavlic guilty of domestic battery. (Pen. Code, § 243, subd. (e)(1).)1 The trial court sentenced defendant to county jail for a term of 365 days, and imposed a 10-year protective order protecting the victim from defendant. (§ 136.2, subd. (i).) Defendant raises four issues on appeal. First, defendant contends the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the law of self-defense because the trial court failed to inform the jury about one's right to defend one's self from unlawful touching. Second, defendant contends the trial court erred by imposing the protective order because domestic battery is not a crime of domestic violence. Third, defendant contends the trial court failed to consider the proper factors when imposing the 10-year protective order. Fourth, defendant contends substantial evidence does not support the imposition of a 10-year protective order. We affirm the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The victim is female and was 57 years old in June 2013, when defendant's trial took place. The victim is a musician. Defendant and the victim met in 2009, and their relationship became romantic. Defendant moved into the victim's home, in the Pinyon Pines area of Riverside County.
In the months prior to March 22, 2012 defendant verbally abused the victim and exhibited "bizarre behavior." On March 22, the victim and defendant ate breakfast, spoke to one another, and had a "fairly calm morning." The victim exited the house and went to her recording studio, which is on the same property as the house, but in a separate building. The victim stayed in the recording studio for approximately four or five hours.
The victim returned to the main house in the late afternoon. The victim wanted to speak to defendant about their relationship and "what was going on with him." The victim found defendant lying in bed, in their shared bedroom. The victim sat on the edge of the bed, and rubbed defendant's back, in order to comfort him. Defendant began crying uncontrollably. Defendant then stood up and turned on "really loud music."
Defendant picked the victim up from the bed, grabbing her upper body or shoulder area. Defendant threw the victim into the corner of the room. Defendant screamed that the victim "ruined his life," called her a "'whore'" and a "'slut,'" and said he "must like dirty girls." Defendant "slammed" the right side of the victim's head, over her eye, with an object. The object was a gray box, which appeared to be a piece of audio equipment. The victim was sitting upright on the floor when defendant struck her with the box. Defendant struck the victim's head two or three times with the box. The victim's "eyes were full of blood." Defendant grabbed other objects, such as bowls, from around the bedroom and threw them at the victim's face.
The victim did not move or say anything during the attack. The victim feared that any response on her part would make the situation more dangerous. The victim felt dizzy, as though she were losing consciousness. Defendant picked the victim up again, grabbing underneath her arms, and threw her toward the bedroom door. The victim's head struck the door. The victim lay by the door, and then "got up, and ran."
The victim ran out of the house to her car. The victim kept her keys and telephone in her car, because she felt she may "need to run" at some point, due to defendant's prior behavior. The victim drove to the highway, and then stopped because she could not see due to the blood in her eyes. The victim called 911. Paramedics transported the victim to a hospital. The victim suffered a cut above her right eyebrow and bruising and swelling around her eyes. The victim also suffered "injuries to [her] ribs, bruising and [a] contusion across [her] breast." The cut above the victim's eyebrow required stitches.
Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Edwards (Edwards) met the victim at the hospital. Edwards found the victim to be groggy, e.g., speaking slowly and having a difficult time recalling things, which the victim said was due to being dizzy as a result of the attack. Edwards believed the victim's dizziness explanation was consistent with the victim's condition, and did not believe the victim was intoxicated.
The victim told Edwards that she had been speaking to defendant in the bedroom when "he suddenly became angry." Defendant grabbed the victim's hair and pulled her to the ground. Defendant struck the left side of the victim's face with his fist and struck the right side with a metal object. While the victim was on the ground, defendantgrabbed her hair, and pulled her into the hallway outside the bedroom door. At that point, the victim ran out of the house.
Edwards went to the victim's house to serve defendant with an emergency restraining order. Defendant was at the house. Edwards looked defendant over for injuries, but did not see any injuries on him. Edwards entered the house, and told defendant he was under arrest. When looking around the house, Edwards saw (1) a small drop of blood on a sheet in the victim's and defendant's bedroom; (2) blood on the bedroom carpet; and (3) blood on a DVD player. The blood appeared to be fresh.
Defendant told Edwards the blood on the DVD player was from an incident with his neighbor a week prior. Defendant said he and the victim had a verbal argument that evening (March 22); he initially said it was only verbal. Later, defendant said the victim was on the ground and he dragged her out of the bedroom by grabbing her underneath her armpits and pulling her backwards. Defendant did not explain why he dragged the victim out of the bedroom. Defendant did not say the victim was kicking him when he dragged her. Defendant said the victim must have accidentally received the cut above her eye when he dragged her out of the bedroom. Defendant told Edwards he was not injured. When the victim was brought into the home, she saw the bloody DVD player, pointed to it, and said to Edwards, "'That's what he hit me with.'"
In this subsection, we present defendant's version of the events. Defendant and the victim lived together for approximately two years. They had a romantic relationship that was "quite blissful" for the first year, and then "progressively deteriorate[d]" duringthe second year. Defendant believed the relationship problems were due to the victim suffering a mental illness, bipolar disorder in particular. Defendant did not verbally abuse the victim, but believed the victim found any unflattering comments about her to be verbal abuse. In the later portion of the relationship, defendant and the victim would have disagreements, which would ultimately result in "off the wall shouting matches." Defendant explained that any disagreement would "essentially become a battlefield." At times, the victim physically abused defendant.
On the morning of March 22, defendant and the victim drank brandy and smoked marijuana together, in order to calm their nerves so they could discuss their relationship issues without arguing. Around 11:00 a.m., the two reconciled and engaged in intercourse. Later in the day, around 7:00 p.m., defendant and the victim's conversation took on a negative tone.
Defendant and the victim moved into the bedroom. Defendant sat on the bed, while the victim sat on the floor. Defendant and the victim drank brandy, smoked marijuana, and talked. Eventually, defendant decided to sleep. The victim was talking to herself, and defendant wanted the bedroom to be quiet, so he asked the victim to leave the room. The victim refused to leave. The victim shook her head and continued talking to herself.
During prior incidents when the victim consumed alcohol and marijuana she became physically incapacitated. As a result, defendant tried to determine if the victim was not leaving the room due to being drunk, "stoned," or having a multiple sclerosis seizure. The victim was sitting on the floor, so defendant lifted her off the floor byplacing his hands underneath her armpits. As defendant lifted the victim, "she swung around and circled"; she "swung out of [defendant's] grasp and brought her legs over the corner of the bed." The victim's buttocks were on the floor, but her legs were against the bed and her feet were on the bed. Defendant thought the victim might kick his face. Defendant tried to stop the victim from potentially kicking his face by "placing [his] hand on her legs." After defendant touched the victim's legs, she began "to kick at [him]."
Based upon the kicking motion, defendant determined the victim was not physically incapacitated. Defendant used both of his hands to restrain the victim's legs. The victim continued trying to kick defendant. The victim was also flailing her arms toward defendant, so defendant tried to block her arms as well. Defendant tried to remove the victim from the bedroom. Defendant believed the only way to grab the victim was by her hair, so he grabbed her hair. Defendant felt...
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