People v. Carroll CA2/2

Filed 4/30/15 P. v. Carroll CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

THE PEOPLE, B251834

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA059754) v.

SYNTHIA CARROLL,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Richard Naranjo, Judge. Affirmed. Nadezhda M. Habinek, under appointment by Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, James William Bilderback II, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Brendan Sullivan, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Synthia Carroll (defendant) appeals her conviction of two counts of criminal 1 threats (Pen. Code, § 422, subd. (a)) on the ground that the trial court wrongly denied her motions for mistrial. We find no abuse of discretion and affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY In May 2013, defendant was in the midst of moving out of her apartment. Unhappy with her security deposit refund, defendant went to the apartment’s local leasing office. While there, she screamed at leasing office employee Carla Argueta (Argueta) and, as she was leaving, stated, “Bitch, I have something for you. It may hurt or it may tickle.” A few days later, another leasing office employee, Cynthia Jones Foster (Foster) received a call, and recognized the caller’s voice as defendant’s. The voice said, “Are you ready to die with that fuckin’ bitch Carla?” After Foster asked, “Excuse me, who is this?” the caller repeated, “Are you ready to die?” and hung up. Foster later told Argueta that defendant had called and said, “Bitch, I’m going to kill both of you.” The People charged defendant with three counts of criminal threats (§ 422, subd. (a)) for: (1) the in-person threat to Argueta; (2) the over-the-phone threat to Argueta; and (3) the over-the-phone threat to Foster. The People also alleged defendant’s 1994 attempted robbery conviction as a prior “strike” under the Three Strikes Law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(j), 1170.12, subd. (b)), and as a prior serious felony (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)), and alleged her 1996 petty theft with priors conviction (§ 666) and her 2001 child endangerment conviction (§ 273a, subd. (a)) as prior prison sentences (§ 667.5). The jury acquitted defendant of the in-person threat, but convicted her of the two telephonic threats. The trial court imposed a sentence of 10 years in prison on one of the counts, consisting of a base term of three years plus an additional five years for the prior serious felony and one additional year for each prior prison sentence; the court stayed the sentence on the other count under section 654.