People v. Looney CA3

Filed 8/26/24 P. v. Looney CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, C098280

v. (Super. Ct. No. 22FE000083)

LARNELL LOONEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted defendant Larnell Looney of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. It also found that he personally used a firearm. In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found, among other things, that defendant had a prior serious felony conviction. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate state prison term of 37 years. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court (1) was required to dismiss the firearm and prior serious felony enhancements under Penal Code section 1385,1 and (2) abused its discretion in not giving great weight to certain mitigating circumstances and in imposing the maximum sentence. Finding no error or abuse of discretion, we will affirm the judgment.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1

BACKGROUND Defendant spent the day with his friend Antonio Amador on December 30, 2021. The two drank alcohol and consumed drugs. When they went to the house of defendant’s mother-in-law to drop off some keys, defendant told his mother-in-law “shit” was going down. He then punched Amador in the face and body, causing Amador to fall to the ground. Defendant pointed a gun at Amador, told his mother-in-law that Amador was trying to kill him, and shot Amador. Amador died at the scene. Although witnesses did not see Amador do anything to provoke defendant’s actions, defendant repeatedly asserted that Amador tried to kill him. At trial, defendant testified that before they arrived at the mother-in-law’s house, Amador had pointed a gun at defendant and threatened to shoot him. Defendant said he hit Amador at the mother-in-law’s house because he saw Amador pulling out a gun. According to defendant, the gun went off after defendant grabbed it from Amador. Defendant said he shot Amador because Amador was going to kill him. The jury found defendant not guilty of murder but guilty of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The jury also found that defendant personally used a firearm. The trial court found true multiple aggravating factors and the prior conviction allegations. At sentencing, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the prior strike allegation under People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497, and it denied defendant’s motion to dismiss the firearm and serious felony enhancements under section 1385. It sentenced defendant to 37 years in state prison, consisting of the upper term of 11 years for voluntary manslaughter, doubled for the prior strike, plus the upper term of 10 years for the firearm use enhancement, and five years for the prior serious felony conviction. Relevant details from the sentencing hearing will be set forth in the discussion portion of this opinion.