People v. Townsend CA2/1

Filed 1/30/15 P. v. Townsend CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, B256676

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA097445) v.

EDWARD TOWNSEND,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Tomson T. Ong, Judge. Affirmed. ______ Jerome J. Haig, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. ______

An information, filed on December 20, 2013, charged Edward Townsend with inflicting corporal injury on his spouse (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)); making criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422, subd. (a)); and violating a protective order (Pen. Code, § 166, subd. (a)(4)). Another information, also filed on December 20, 2013, charged Townsend with the sale or transportation of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11379, subd. (a)). Townsend waived his right to counsel and represented himself in both cases. After initially entering not guilty pleas, on January 13, 2014, Townsend withdrew those pleas and pleaded no contest to the four counts. On January 17, 2014, the trial court imposed a state prison sentence of six years eight months, consisting of the upper term of five years for inflicting corporal injury on his spouse, plus eight months (one-third the midterm) for making criminal threats and one year (one-third the midterm) for selling or transporting methamphetamine. It also imposed a one-year county jail term for violating a protective order. The court, however, suspended execution of sentence and placed Townsend on five years formal probation in both cases. As conditions of probation, the court directed Townsend to “obey all laws and orders of the court,” “stay 100 yards away” from his wife and “obey the protective order issued in this or any other case.” And it issued a new protective order, directing Townsend to stay 100 yards away from his wife and have no personal, electronic, telephonic or written contact with her. On March 20, 2014, a felony complaint was filed against Townsend, again charging him with inflicting corporal injury on his spouse, making criminal threats and violating a protective order. Townsend’s probation was preliminarily revoked, and a formal probation violation hearing, to be combined with a preliminary hearing on the felony complaint, was set for April 4, 2014. Townsend again waived his right to counsel and represented himself in the combined probation violation and preliminary hearing. At that hearing, the People presented evidence that, on March 18, 2014, Townsend had poked his wife in her face and body, injuring her upper left lip, called her derogatory names and told her that if she called the police “he was going to chop [her] in pieces and send [her] all over the continent.” Later that day, Townsend punched his wife’s face and body. Townsend testified in his defense. He stated that, on March 18, 2014, his wife