People v. Folkes CA4/1

Filed 9/2/25 P. v. Folkes CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D084905

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCE412377)

CHASE EDWARD FOLKES,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Patricia K. Cookson, Judge. Affirmed and remanded with directions. Cindy Brines, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. Chase Edward Folkes shot his mother dead. A jury convicted Folkes of second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); count 1) and possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 29800(a)(1); count 2). For count 1, the jury found Folkes intentionally and personally discharged a firearm and proximately caused death to another. (§ 12022.53(d).)

Appointed appellate counsel filed a brief under People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 and Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 indicating she found no arguable issues for reversal on appeal. Counsel asks us to review the record for error as Wende requires. We offered Folkes the opportunity to file his own brief, but he has not done so. Based on our independent review of the record, we find no reasonably arguable appellate issues. We remand with directions to correct the abstract of judgment and otherwise affirm. I. A. Folkes shot his mother, Carolyn Folkes, in May 2022. The pair lived together. Folkes, who had a decades-long criminal and drinking history, helped care for his elderly mother. She had “some beginnings of dementia” and was “very forgetful.” The week he shot his mother, Folkes—who testified in his defense— was reportedly “drinking more.” As a result, he professed to not have a “good memory” of that week. His sister testified that a “very desperate” sounding Folkes called her that week and told her their mother “was too much” and “he couldn’t take her.” According to Folkes, the shooting was an accident. He heard his mother say she “‘wish[ed] somebody would shoot [her].’” In response, Folkes took a “slam-fire shotgun” he had made—the barrel of which he knew contained a live shotgun shell—and sat across the kitchen table from his mother. He told his mother “‘you don’t want to be shot by a gun.’” Folkes claimed he “lost control of the barrel” and the gun “went off,” shooting his mother.