People v. Burnett CA4/3

Filed 11/20/25 P. v. Burnett CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G064455

v. (Super. Ct. No. 23NF1740)

EFFRUM MALAND BURNETT, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Sheila F. Hanson, Judge. Affirmed. Robert L.S. Angres, 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, Eric V.

Tran and Steve Oetting, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * * This appeal stems from Effrum Maland Burnett’s conviction for second degree murder following a jury trial. The trial court instructed the jury on first degree murder, second degree murder, and voluntary manslaughter. Burnett contends the trial court erred in not instructing the jury on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. We disagree. The evidence demonstrated that on the day of the incident, Burnett and Toye Jones, the victim, engaged in two fights outside of a sober living home. Jones stopped the first fight but then the two continued fighting down the street. During that second fight, Burnett took out a knife and stabbed Jones five times, including one fatal wound through the heart and another stab wound to the groin that would also have been fatal without immediate medical attention. There was no evidence in the record from which the jury could conclude that Burnett did not subjectively believe his stabbing of Jones would result in anything other than Jones’s death. The trial court, therefore, did not err by failing to instruct on involuntary manslaughter and we affirm the judgment. FACTS In July 2023, Burnett and a female companion drove to a sober living facility in Anaheim where Jones was living. A witness testified that the female told Burnett that Jones had recently drugged her, held her against her will, and sexually assaulted her. When Burnett arrived, a resident inside the house told Jones the female was making allegations about him; Jones then ran outside. Once outside, Jones yelled at the female and hit her. Burnett intervened and then Jones and Burnett started fighting. Jones