People v. Young CA1/3

Filed 8/19/14 P. v. Young CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A138043 v. RICKY LARAY MCDADE YOUNG, (Solano County Super. Ct. No. VCR207979 ) Defendant and Appellant.

Ricky Laray McDade Young (appellant) appeals from judgment entered after a jury convicted him of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 2111). He contends the judgment must be reversed because: (1) the district attorney committed prosecutorial misconduct; and (2) the definition of reasonable doubt in CALCRIM No. 220 violates due process. We reject the contentions and affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND An information was filed on February 17, 2011, charging appellant with second degree robbery (§ 211, count 1) and child abuse or endangerment (§ 273a, subd. (a), count 2). The child abuse charge was later dismissed on appellant’s motion. The information was based on an incident that occurred on June 18, 2010. At about 1:21 p.m. that afternoon, Luanna M. was sitting in her car in a parking lot behind a hotel, enjoying the last few minutes of her lunch break. An African American male who “looked like he’d be around 18 [years old]” came up to Luanna’s passenger side window

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

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and motioned to his watch, as if asking what time it was. He then walked around to the driver’s side window, pulled out a gun (later determined to be a BB gun), and asked for her purse. Luanna was scared and asked the man—later identified as L.C., a minor—if he wanted her wallet or her whole purse. L.C. asked for just her wallet, and she gave it to him. The wallet contained “a little bit over $100 . . . in cash, debit cards, credit cards, [her] checkbook, and various other cards.” After taking the wallet, L.C. ran around the front of her car and “jumped into” an older dark model Ford Mustang that had pulled up alongside Luanna’s car. The Mustang “took off” “immediately.” Luanna estimated that about 10 seconds elapsed between L.C. taking her wallet and the Mustang pulling up. Luanna did not get a good look at the driver as he drove away but saw that he was an African American male. Luanna tried to follow the Mustang but lost sight of it after “a couple blocks.” She called 911 and reported the robbery. Just two minutes later, Deputy Melvin Yarbor of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office was patrolling I-80 when he noticed a Mustang weaving and driving slowly in the fast lane. Unaware of the robbery, but suspecting that the driver might be intoxicated, Yarbor initiated a traffic stop. It took the driver of the Mustang, who was later identified as appellant, about a half mile to pull over, and Yarbor noticed the passenger—L.C.— moving around in the car. After Yarbor talked to appellant and L.C., Yarbor heard a dispatch report that two men had fled a robbery in a dark Mustang. Thinking he might have detained the suspects, Yarbor called for backup. Backup officers who arrived searched the Mustang. They found a BB gun under the passenger seat, and found two of Luanna’s credit cards between appellant’s seat and the seat cover. They also found Luanna’s wallet inside “the back trunk area” of the Mustang. Luanna was brought to the scene, where she identified L.C. as the robber and the Mustang as the getaway car. Defense counsel argued in closing that appellant did not know L.C. was going to rob Luanna. The jury convicted appellant of second degree robbery. On February 25, 2013, the trial court sentenced appellant to three years of formal probation.