People v. Jones CA3

Filed 6/30/15 P. v. Jones CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (San Joaquin)

THE PEOPLE, C077316

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. SF127860A)

v.

DENNIS JONES,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Dennis Jones was convicted by a jury of knowingly possessing a stolen vehicle. In a trial by court, defendant was found to have three prior strike convictions and to have served four separate prior prison terms. He was sentenced to prison for an aggregate term of six years. On appeal defendant contends the prosecutor committed several instances of misconduct, the combination of which deprived him of a fair trial. Defendant also asserts that if we conclude his failure to object to the instances of misconduct forfeits the issue for purposes of appeal, then he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We conclude that defendant has forfeited the misconduct issues for appellate review and we reject his ineffective assistance of counsel claim.

1

STATEMENT OF FACTS Prosecution’s Case On April 18, 2014,1 Margarita Lopez Arredondo (hereafter Lopez), who works at the Cancun Restaurant in Stockton, attended a party at Rubie’s Nightclub. Around midnight, Lopez left the party with her boyfriend, Fidel Morales, and sat in her Mercury Mountaineer while he stood outside. As they were talking, a man came up to Morales, demanded “everything” Morales had, and threatened to “beat the crap” out of him. Morales gave the man his cell phone and wallet. The man told Morales to tell Lopez to give him what she had. Lopez saw a second man and gave up her purse. The two men got into a car and drove off. Morales told Lopez that they should go because the men were going to come back. Lopez locked her Mountaineer, got into Morales’s car and he drove her home. The following morning, Lopez went to the parking lot to retrieve her Mountaineer, but it was gone. She then reported the incident to the police. About 7:15 p.m. on April 21, Officers Mike Sarale and Jason Digiulio were on duty when they were directed to drive to a specified location. There, the officers saw defendant sitting in Lopez’s Mountaineer. Defendant got out of the vehicle and was searched. In defendant’s front pocket was an envelope that contained two payroll checks for Lopez, her Social Security card, and her Mexican identification card. The Mountaineer’s registration form bore Lopez’s name. Also found in the Mountaineer was an identification card bearing another person’s name, which defendant claimed he had found in a hotel parking lot and knew the person. That same evening, Lopez went to the location where her Mountaineer had been found. A window was broken, a hammer was on the rear floorboard, and the stereo had