People v. Porter CA2/1

Filed 12/23/15 P. v. Porter CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B258933

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YA086504) v.

BRUCE LLEWELLYN PORTER,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mark S. Arnold, Judge. Modified in part; affirmed in part. Christian C. Buckley, under appointment by the 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, Margaret E. Maxwell and Nathan Guttman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ___________________________________

Bruce Llewellyn Porter was convicted of two counts of armed robbery (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 12022, subd. (a)(1)).1 On appeal, he contends his conviction on one of the counts must be reversed because the trial court erroneously admitted a recording of a 911 call without a valid hearsay exception and in violation of his constitutional right to confront witnesses against him. We affirm. BACKGROUND On January 26, 2013, between 10:00 p.m. and midnight, Dadallage De Silva observed appellant and a passenger, Keith Taylor, drive a gold Buick into the Century gas station at the intersection of Century Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue in Los Angeles. De Silva observed appellant jump out of the driver’s side window, approach Brandon Dupont, who was pumping gas, point a gun at him and take something small from him. Appellant then jumped back into his car through the window and drove away. De Silva was working the night shift and observed the incident through the window of the cashier booth, which was about 25 feet away from appellant and Dupont. De Silva recognized appellant and the gold Buick because appellant had bought cigars from him every day for the past three years. Curtis Washington, Dupont’s cousin, was inside the gas station store when Dupont was robbed. After the robbery, Dupont told De Silva he had been robbed. Dupont and Washington then drove out of the gas station and contacted Inglewood police, but returned 15 minutes later with an Inglewood police officer, who had directed them to report the crime to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) because the gas station was in the LAPD’s jurisdiction. (The gas station was actually in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction, and that department handled the investigation.) De Silva called 911 from the gas station phone and handed the phone to Washington, who spoke with the operator. Washington at first stated he had been robbed at gunpoint while pumping gas, but immediately explained it was his cousin, Dupont, who had been robbed. In response to the operator’s questions, Washington stated the robbery had