People v. Craig CA2/8

Filed 12/31/25 P. v. Craig CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B337679

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA082001 v.

RODNEY LAMAR CRAIG,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lisa M. Strassner, Judge. Affirmed. William J. Capriola, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Deepti Vaadyala, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

Four years ago, Rodney Lamar Craig brutalized his former girlfriend over multiple days. Now he seeks to undo his conviction and two sentencing enhancements. We affirm. Neither prosecutorial misconduct nor sentencing error taint the judgment. Unspecified code citations are to the Penal Code. I Craig’s ex-girlfriend, Sandra Johnson, testified about her tumultuous relationship with Craig. Craig had abused Johnson before. He often suspected she was cheating on him. He would search her phone and smashed a few of them. In June 2021, Craig “lost it” after seeing a text message from a man to Johnson. He held her captive for two days and beat her. Johnson testified about Craig’s violence. Almost all of her ribs were fractured. Both lungs had collapsed. Doctors put rods and screws in her neck to stabilize it. Video evidence, police and medical testimony, and photographs corroborated Johnson’s battered state when she escaped Craig. An expert testified it is common for domestic violence victims to stay in abusive relationships and not report the abuse. The jury heard about Craig’s violence against two previous partners. Craig often suspected cheating and was controlling in these relationships, too. One of the women testified Craig hit her in the face so hard he split open her eyebrow; then he refused to let her leave. Another time, Craig held her captive for a day and threatened to break her jaw and light her on fire. She sought a clean break from Craig and went to Arizona. Craig harassed her by phone and threatened to torture and kill her dogs and family. He also set her property on fire.