People v. Ardeleanu CA4/1

Filed 12/24/25 P. v. Ardeleanu CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D084840

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD301376)

CHRISTIAN THEODOR ARDELEANU,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Robert O. Amador and Polly Shamoon, Judges. Reversed and remanded with instructions. Matthew M. Johnson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Robin Urbanski and Brendon Marshall, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

I INTRODUCTION Christian Theodor Ardeleanu was charged with three felony counts of

unlawful use of tear gas (Pen. Code, § 22810, subd. (g)(1); counts 1–3).1 After the preliminary hearing, he failed to appear at a trial readiness conference. The trial court then allowed the prosecution to amend the information to add a fourth charge for willful failure to appear on felony charges (§ 1320.5; count 4). The case proceeded to trial and a jury found Ardeleanu guilty of all four counts. On appeal from the judgment of conviction, Ardeleanu argues the court erred by allowing the prosecution to amend the information to add the charge of failure to appear. According to Ardeleanu, the court’s ruling violated section 1009 and impinged upon his constitutional due process rights because the new charge was not supported by evidence from the preliminary hearing. The People concede the court prejudicially erred. We agree. Therefore, we reverse the conviction for failure to appear (count 4) and remand the matter for resentencing on the three extant convictions (counts 1–3). II BACKGROUND On November 22, 2023, Ardeleanu was charged by complaint with three felony counts of unlawful use of tear gas after he sprayed three victims with bear spray during two separate and unrelated incidents. On December 21, 2023, the trial court held a preliminary hearing and Ardeleanu was held to answer on all three counts. At the preliminary hearing, the parties stipulated that the complaint would be deemed an information.