People v. Leach CA3

Filed 6/25/15 P. v. Leach CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (Glenn)

THE PEOPLE, C075284

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 13NCR09609)

v.

ERIC CHARLES LEACH,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Eric Charles Leach was charged with two felonies; it was also alleged that his prior conviction in Minnesota for “simple robbery” constituted a strike. Before trial began, defendant admitted the prior, including the strike allegation, so as to keep the prior from the jury. After the jury convicted him on the current charges, the trial court sentenced him to eight years in state prison, which included a doubling of his sentence for the strike. The record does not show that the court ever read the language of the Minnesota “simple robbery” statute, or that the court had any evidence before it as to the facts of defendant’s offense.

1

We shall affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND An information alleged that defendant inflicted corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon E.S., who was a cohabitant or the mother of his child (count I; Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)),1 and assaulted E.S. by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (count II; § 245, subd. (a)(4)). As to both counts, the information alleged that defendant had been convicted of “MN Code [section] 609.24 . . . (Simple Robbery),” a strike (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12). The information did not quote the Minnesota statute. In a motion in limine to admit defendant’s prior acts of domestic violence, the People summarized defendant’s criminal history, including this account of the alleged strike: “PRIOR ROBBERY CONVICTION [¶] On December 20, 1999, defendant was sentenced for his plea to Simple Robbery, a felony, in Martin County, Minnesota. The facts of that case, as laid out in the district court’s certified copy of the complaint, are as follows: Defendant had threatened clerks at a convenience store and take [sic] a donation box from the counter on the evening of June 5, 1999. One clerk said defendant came in the store, said he had a fight with his fiancé, threw a ring on the counter, and told them he had a gun and that he wanted the money in the till and some lottery tickets. The clerk recognized him because he had previously dated her sister. When the clerk told him he wasn’t getting anything, defendant took a donation box and left. [¶] The People have a certified copy of this conviction as well.” So far as the record shows, the People did not attach a certified copy of the complaint or the conviction to the motion. Nor did they quote the Minnesota statute.