People v. Rhodes CA6

Filed 1/20/26 P. v. Rhodes CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H053247 (Monterey County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. 22CR008754)

v.

JASON ANTHONY RHODES,

Defendant and Appellant.

Jason Anthony Rhodes pleaded no contest to inflicting corporal injury on a former cohabitant. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence, placed Rhodes on probation, and imposed $12,180.00 in contested restitution. Rhodes appealed, and we appointed counsel to represent him. Counsel filed an opening brief stating the case and the facts, but raising no issues. Subsequently, new counsel was appointed, but made no changes to the opening brief. We advised Rhodes of his right to file written argument on his own behalf, but received no response. We have reviewed the full appellate record pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende). (See also People v. Kelly (2006) 40 Cal.4th 106 (Kelly).) We conclude that there is no arguable issue for appeal and affirm the judgment. I. BACKGROUND Because Rhodes pleaded no contest before trial, we derive the facts below from the incident report, which provided the factual basis for the plea.

A. The Offense Rhodes had a three-year relationship with Jane Doe, which ended in 2021. In the early morning of September 26, 2022, Doe woke up and found Rhodes standing at the foot of her bed. He was drunk and had entered the house uninvited, but Doe let him stay until he sobered up. However, Rhodes continued drinking throughout the day. The following evening, Doe asked Rhodes to leave the house, and they began to argue. Rhodes grabbed a small conch seashell and a gold watch, which he said he would take. Doe told him he could not, and she tried to grab the seashell, which Rhodes swung at her head. Doe ducked and fell, and the two began wrestling on the floor. Rhodes pinned Doe to the floor face down, straddling her waist, and began pulling up her nightgown. Doe believed Rhodes was going to rape her. Doe fought and rolled onto her back, but Rhodes gripped her neck with both hands, told her repeatedly he was going to kill her, and choked her until she began to lose consciousness. Nevertheless, Doe was able to push her way out, and she ran out of her house and took refuge with a neighbor, who called 911. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, Rhodes was in front of Doe’s house. He identified himself, and the deputies took him into custody. The deputies observed redness around Doe’s throat and scratch marks on her eye, nose, and mouth. Rhodes was read his rights, stated that he understood, and gave a statement. Rhodes initially claimed that he had no physical contact with Doe, and that she snapped at some point and began yelling at him before fleeing to her neighbor. When Rhodes learned of Doe’s statement and her matching injuries, he claimed Doe was obsessed with him and that, when she saw messages on his phone from another woman, she struck him in the face before screaming and running to the neighbor’s house. However, there were no marks on Rhodes’s face, and he declined medical care. At Doe’s request, the trial court issued an emergency protective order. Several days later, Doe told a deputy she had not found the gold watch grabbed by Rhodes.