People v. Thomas CA4/1

Filed 12/30/24 P. v. Thomas CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D083770

Plaintiff and Appellant,

v. (Super. Ct. No. FVI22000877)

RICKY THOMAS, JR.,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, Stephanie Tañada, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions. Jason Anderson, District Attorney, and Mark A. Vos, Deputy District Attorney, for Plaintiff and Appellant. Jason Szydlik, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Respondent. The trial court dismissed with prejudice a criminal complaint against Ricky Thomas, Jr. involving two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (b)) under California v. Trombetta (1984) 467 U.S. 479 and Arizona v. Youngblood (1988) 488 U.S. 51. The court found the government acted in bad faith by failing to include certain call records in

the crime report even though Thomas provided an incident number at the time of his arrest. That finding was based on the court’s “understanding all of the records in this [incident] are gone” after a third party hacked the sheriff’s system. Although a copy of the Computer-Aided Dispatch report for the incident number Thomas provided appears in the record, neither party corrected the court’s understanding. As a result, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. A. On April 5, 2022, Thomas allegedly pointed a gun at his ex-girlfriend, Nichole P., and her brother, Michael G., while they sat in a vehicle outside his home. Thomas denied doing so. He told an officer he approached the vehicle with a gun in his sweatshirt because he did not recognize it and he did not expect Nichole to be there, but once he recognized her and her brother he moved the gun to his waistband. Thomas explained Nichole had visited a few days earlier to collect her belongings, after which another officer allegedly told her not to return. In support of the prior incident, Thomas directed the officer to a “citation number,” #VC220920171, and told the officer to look it up “to prove that [Nichole] was not supposed to even be here.” The officer assured Thomas he would “definitely make sure . . . that we find that and that it gets included in the report.” The crime report summarizes the officer’s interview with Thomas and notes: “Thomas did not expect [Nichole] to be at his residence due to #VC220920171 and Thomas was told [Nichole] should not pick up anymore belongings.” It also attaches the related CAD report, a three-page document