People v. Perez CA4/3

Filed 1/27/15 P. v. Perez CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G049001

v. (Super. Ct. No. 11CF3459)

GABRIEL RUBIO PEREZ, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, John Conley, Judge. Affirmed. Rex Adam Williams, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Robin Urbanski and Kathryn Kirschbaum, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * *

INTRODUCTION Defendant Gabriel Rubio Perez appeals after a jury found him guilty of two counts of domestic battery with corporal injury, two counts of making criminal threats, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. Perez contends insufficient evidence supported his conviction for one of the two counts of making criminal threats, charged as count 3, in the information. We affirm. Substantial evidence supported Perez’s conviction on count 3 for making criminal threats in violation of Penal Code section 422. (All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.)

FACTS Perez solely argues in this appeal that insufficient evidence supported his conviction for making criminal threats (as charged in count 3). Given the limited scope of Perez’s appeal, our summary of facts is limited to evidence relevant to that offense. On October 13, 2010, Perez lived in an apartment with his girlfriend, Lesly Lemus, Lemus’s 18-month-old son, Perez’s nephew, his nephew’s wife, and their baby. Lemus was seven months pregnant with Perez’s child; they had lived together for about six months. Lemus had experienced a difficult pregnancy up until that time. At 2:00 a.m., Lemus was sleeping in her bedroom with her son when Perez arrived home. Perez asked Lemus for something to eat; he appeared upset and under the influence of alcohol. Lemus told him to serve himself. Perez told her “that’s what [she] was there for and that [she] should do it.” Perez slapped Lemus’s face several times, turned her wrists backwards, took off his belt, and hit her arms and a leg with it. He pushed her onto the bed. Lemus’s stomach hurt and she felt she was choking. She vomited. Perez pulled her hair twice, pushed her backwards, and hit her in the head with the grip of a gun. Perez told Lemus that if she lost the baby, she was “going to be in trouble.” Perez held the gun up to the