People v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 28 April 2004
• Docket Number: No. D042152.,D042152.
• Citation: 118 Cal.App.4th 11,12 Cal.Rptr.3d 693
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ricky Lasha TAYLOR, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

12 Cal.Rptr.3d 693

118 Cal.App.4th 11

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ricky Lasha TAYLOR, Defendant and Appellant.

No. D042152.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1.

April 28, 2004.

Irma Castillo, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Melissa A. Mandel and Daniel Rogers, Deputy Attorneys General, and Kristen Chenelia for Plaintiff and Respondent.

AARON, J.

Ricky Lasha Taylor appeals from his convictions for willful infliction of corporal injury on a cohabitant (Pen.Code,¹ § 273.5, subd. (a)), assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)), and battery with serious bodily injury (§ 243, subd. (d)). He contends: (1) the section 273.5 conviction must be reversed because there was insufficient evidence to prove cohabitation; and (2) the trial court erred in imposing a five-year sentence enhancement for Taylor's prior serious felony prior convictions pursuant to section 667, subdivision (a)(1). We conclude that the five-year prior serious felony sentence enhancement must be stricken, because the jury specifically found that Taylor did not inflict great bodily injury in the commission of the charged offenses, and there is no other basis for a finding that Taylor's current offenses are serious felonies, as required by section 667, subdivision (a)(1). In all other respects, we affirm the judgment.

I FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ricky Taylor was Cherise Coe's boyfriend. In July 2002, Taylor and Coe had been dating for about five months. Coe was 10 weeks pregnant with Taylor's child. Coe was homeless and living with Taylor in his car. According to Coe, "I had been staying in Vista with my aunt like for a little while, and then I would leave and I didn't have anywhere to stay, and then I would meet up with [Taylor], and then I would just be with him for a while." When Coe and Taylor were not living together in his car, he lived with his sister.

On the night of July 17, 2002, Taylor and Coe slept in Taylor's car at the beach. The next afternoon, Taylor gave two female friends a ride home in his car. Coe was sitting in the front passenger seat and the other two women were in the back seat. Taylor and Coe got into an argument. Taylor stopped the car several times, punched Coe in the face, and burned her face with a cigarette. Coe switched seats with one of the women in back. Taylor drove the other two women to their house, where they got out of the car. Taylor punched Coe in the face and back, grabbed her by the hair, and bit her on the right leg and stomach. Taylor stopped attacking Coe when a man approached with his dog. Coe got out of the car. Taylor followed her, then got back in his car and left.

When the police arrived at the scene, Coe was crying hysterically. She told the police that Taylor had punched her in the face, bitten her, and burned her with a cigarette. The police took Coe to the hospital. Coe had a swollen left eye and cheek, a burn mark between her nose and lip, bite marks on her leg and stomach, and abrasions and contusions on the left side of her face.

Coe suffered a fracture of the bone around her left eye. There was a small crack in the bone, but the bone was not displaced. According to the treating physician, such a fracture would normally heal itself without treatment. The doctor characterized the fracture "as a moderate to severe fracture, only because it is involving the head and it's very close to the eye." There was no injury to the eye itself.

At trial, Coe testified that her facial injuries were caused during a fight she had with two women, who had hit her in the face. She admitted that she and Taylor had a physical altercation in his car, but denied that he had punched her in the face. According to Coe, Taylor accidentally burned her with a cigarette during the fight. Taylor also bit her on the stomach and leg. Coe denied telling the police that Taylor had punched her in the face.

The jury convicted Taylor of willful infliction of corporal injury on a cohabitant (§ 273.5, subd. (a)), assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)), and battery with serious bodily injury (§ 243, subd. (d)). However, the jury found not true allegations that Taylor had personally inflicted great bodily injury on Coe in the commission of the charged offenses. (§ 12022.7, subds.(a), (e).) Taylor admitted that he had suffered two prior serious felony robbery convictions, as charged in the information. (§§ 667, subds.(a)(1), (b)-(i), 1170.12.)

At sentencing, the trial court struck one of Taylor's strike priors. The court imposed a total prison term of 16 years 8 months, including a consecutive five-year enhancement for Taylor's serious felony priors pursuant to section 667, subdivision (a)(1).

II DISCUSSION

A. There Was Sufficient Evidence of Cohabitation To Support the Conviction for Violating Section 273.5, Subdivision (a)

The jury convicted Taylor in count one of corporal injury on a cohabitant, in violation of section 273.5, subdivision (a). This statute provides in relevant part that any person who willfully inflicts corporal injury on a "cohabitant" resulting in a traumatic condition is guilty of a felony. Taylor contends the evidence is insufficient to support a finding that he and Coe were cohabitants. We disagree.

In determining the sufficiency of the evidence, "the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." (Jackson v. Virginia (1979) 443 U.S. 307, 318-319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560.) "[T]he court must review the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment below to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence — that is, evidence which is reasonable, credible, and of solid value — such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 578, 162 Cal.Rptr. 431, 606 P.2d 738.)

The term "cohabitant" has been interpreted "broadly" to refer to those "`living together in a substantial relationship — one manifested, minimally, by permanence and sexual or amorous intimacy.'" (People v. Moore (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 1323, 1333, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256, quoting People v. Holifield (1988) 205 Cal.App.3d 993, 1000, 252 Cal.Rptr. 729.) "The element of `permanence' in the definition refers only to the underlying `substantial relationship,' not to the actual living arrangement." (People v. Moore, supra, 44 Cal.App.4th at p. 1334, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256.) Permanence does not require exclusivity in either the relationship or the living arrangement. (Id. at pp. 1334-1335 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256.) "[F]or purposes of criminal liability under section 273.5, a defendant may cohabit simultaneously with two or more people at different locations, during the same time frame, if he maintains substantial ongoing relationships with each and lives with each for significant periods." (People v. Moore, supra, at p. 1335, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256.)

Coe testified that she had been dating Taylor for five months, and that they were "living together" in his car at the time of the charged offenses. Coe was 10 weeks pregnant with Taylor's child. Coe did not want to be pregnant, but Taylor wanted her to keep the child. Coe loved Taylor. According to Coe, she lived with Taylor in his car "for a while" after having stayed with her aunt in Vista. Coe's testimony suggested that she had lived with Taylor for periods of time when she was homeless and had no other place to stay. Coe and Taylor spent the night before the charged crimes in Taylor's car at the beach.

Taken in their totality, these facts were sufficient to establish that Coe and Taylor were living together in a substantial relationship that was characterized by permanence and sexual or amorous intimacy. (People v. Moore, supra, 44 Cal.App.4th at p. 1333, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256.) Although the couple's living arrangements may have been unstable or transitory, this did not deprive them of the statutory protection of section 273.5. Nothing in the language of the statute excludes cohabitants who do not have a permanent residence. The fact that Coe and Taylor sometimes lived separately with other relatives similarly does not preclude a finding that they were cohabitants at the time of the charged offenses. (People v. Moore, supra, at p. 1335, 52 Cal.Rptr.2d 256; see also People v. Ballard (1988) 203 Cal.App.3d 311, 314, 249 Cal.Rptr. 806 [defendant lived with girlfriend but also had his own apartment].) We conclude that there was sufficient evidence of cohabitation to support the conviction for violating section 273.5, subdivision (a).

B. The Section 667, Subdivision (a)(1) Sentence Enhancement Must Be Stricken

Taylor contends that the trial court erred in imposing a five-year sentence enhancement for his serious felony priors, pursuant to section 667, subdivision (a)(1).² He argues that section 667, subdivision (a)(1) is inapplicable because his current offenses are not serious felonies. (§ 1192.7, subd. (c).) We conclude that the current offenses are not serious felonies, because the jury specifically found that Taylor did not personally inflict great bodily injury, and there is no other basis for treating the crimes as serious felonies. We further conclude that the trial court violated Taylor's statutory and constitutional rights to jury trial by treating the jury's finding of "serious bodily injury" as legally equivalent to a finding of "great bodily injury" despite the jury's express finding that Taylor did not inflict "great bodily injury."

1. Proceedings Relating to the Allegations of Personal Infliction of Great Bodily Injury and Battery with Serious Bodily Injury

The information...