People v. Bracy CA3

Filed 10/15/14 P. v. Bracy CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, C073967

v. (Super. Ct. No. CRF123717)

JOSHUA SHAWN BRACY,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant Joshua Shawn Bracy guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, and he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. The trial court denied defendant’s requests to reduce his felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon to a misdemeanor and to dismiss his prior strike conviction, and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.

1

Defendant now contends the trial court abused its discretion in (1) refusing to admit a recording of his 911 call reporting a possible burglary of his residence, (2) denying his request to reduce his felony conviction for assault with a deadly weapon to a misdemeanor, and (3) denying his request to dismiss his prior strike conviction. Concluding that defendant’s contentions lack merit, we will affirm the judgment. BACKGROUND Travis Wages was driving his nephew’s Honda 600 motorcycle to work when he noticed a black sport utility vehicle (SUV) closely following him. The driver of the SUV (defendant) would approach within a couple of feet of the motorcycle, then back off and approach again. Wages tried to evade the SUV, but the SUV continued to follow him to his workplace. Wages slowed down to approximately five miles per hour to see what defendant wanted, but defendant was yelling at him, so Wages accelerated to get away; as he did, defendant cut in front of him and collided with Wages, knocking Wages off the roadway. Defendant approached Wages, screamed at him and accused him of stealing defendant’s motorcycle. Wages ran to his workplace and told his coworkers, David Veliz and Elmer Amen, about the collision. Veliz and Amen went to the scene of the collision where defendant told them he had “just nudged” Wages, and that he believed it was his motorcycle that had been stolen. Defendant subsequently apologized to Wages, saying he thought Wages was riding his motorcycle. Defendant testified that while he was away from his house, he received a telephone call from an unidentified caller earlier that morning informing him that someone was on his property attempting to break into his house or steal his property. Defendant called 911 to report the suspected burglary. He did not mention his motorcycle during the call. After making the 911 call, defendant said he waited at a friend’s house for about an hour for the sheriff to call with a report, then drove to another friend’s house so they could go to a casino together.