People v. Lujan

Opinion

ANDREEN, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of conviction in which he was sentenced to prison following his plea to a violation of Penal Code section 245, subdivision (a), assault with a deadly weapon.

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Because the defendant was 17 years of age at the time of the offense, he was referred to the Youth Authority pursuant to section 707.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code for an evaluation concerning his amenability to their programs. The Youth Authority (Authority or YA)

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returned its diagnostic report in which it was found that the defendant was amenable to Authority rehabilitative programs.

At the hearing on the report, the probation officer differed with the Authority and recommended prison. The court sentenced the defendant to prison for the aggravated term of four years. The defendant has appealed, asserting that it was error to sentence him to prison rather than to commit him to the Authority.

Facts

Since defendant pled guilty, no facts were proven. According to the probation report, the victim, Steven Blueford, stated that he was walking through an alley on his way home in Modesto in the early-morning hours of July 1, 1979, when a vehicle approached him. Defendant, aged 17, and another individual (defendant’s brother) got out, and defendant challenged Blueford to a fight. Blueford declined, but ultimately took a swing at defendant in self defense after defendant had swung at him; defendant thereupon drew a knife and chased Blueford to the end of the alley where he stabbed him in the lower abdomen, a deep wound requiring surgery and one week’s hospitalization, although Blueford sustained no permanent damage. A few seconds after the stabbing, Romero Lujan, defendant’s brother, began shooting in Blueford’s direction with a handgun.

According to defendant, Blueford approached the car in which defendant, defendant’s brother and sister-in-law were sitting and “was talking about a lot of stuff I didn’t like.” Defendant got out of the car and Blueford began to swing at defendant using a belt with a heavy buckle. Defendant pulled a knife to scare Blueford, and stabbed him in self defense after his “mind went blank.”