People v. Alexander CA4/1

Filed 10/16/24 P. v. Alexander CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D082644

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD123615)

RODNEY ALEXANDER,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, David M. Gill, Judge. Affirmed. Lindsey M. Ball, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Robin Urbanski and Laura Baggett, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. In 1997, a jury convicted Rodney Alexander of, as relevant here, robbery with a firearm (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 12022.5(a)(1); count 3) and first degree murder of one of his accomplices (§ 187(a); count 1).

Decades later, after the passage of Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.), which narrowed the class of persons liable for felony-murder, Alexander petitioned for resentencing of his first degree murder conviction under what is now section 1172.6. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied Alexander’s petition, finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Alexander was either the actual killer or a major participant in the armed robbery who acted with reckless indifference to human life, and was therefore not entitled to resentencing. On appeal, Alexander argues substantial evidence does not support the trial court’s findings that (1) he was the actual killer, and (2) while conceding he was a major participant in the armed robbery, acted with reckless indifference to human life. Because we conclude there is substantial evidence to support the trial court’s finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Alexander was the actual killer, we disagree with his first contention and need not address his second. We thus affirm. I. In 1996, Alexander and his three accomplices—Delvin Cottingham, Kevin Haywood, and Anthony Robinson—decided to rob a liquor store. Each was armed with a gun. Haywood entered the store first. When Alexander entered, Haywood was in a struggle with the store clerk. Alexander reached over the counter from the customer side, held the clerk’s upper body bent over the counter, and told him “not [to] move.” Meanwhile, Cottingham and Robinson entered the store. Haywood walked behind the counter and began taking money from the unlocked lottery register. Alexander continued holding the clerk down while bent over the counter and pointing his gun at the clerk’s head.