People v. Edwards CA2/4

Filed 6/21/16 P. v. Edwards CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

THE PEOPLE, B266762

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA063402) v.

ANTHONY EDWARDS, JR.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lisa M. Chung, Judge. Affirmed. Joshua Schraer, 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, Assistant Attorney General, Victoria B. Wilson and Noah P. Hill, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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INTRODUCTION Anthony Edwards, Jr., appeals from a sentence and judgment, following his conviction for second degree robbery. He contends the trial court erred when, in response to the jury’s question about how to apply the facts of the case to the “force or fear” element of robbery, it reopened closing arguments. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment. PROCEDURAL HISTORY 1 A jury found appellant guilty of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 211). In a bench trial, appellant admitted a prior “strike” (§§ 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d), 667, subds. (a)-(i)) and prior serious felony allegations. The trial court sentenced appellant to 11 years in state prison. Appellant timely appealed from the judgment. FACTUAL BACKGROUND On June 19, 2014, Benjamin Blanco, a security guard for a grocery store, observed appellant enter the store with an empty backpack. Later, Blanco observed that appellant’s bag was full of bottles. When appellant walked toward the store’s exit without stopping by the cash registers, Blanco asked him to stop and return the items. Appellant “shrugged” and exited the store. Blanco followed appellant outside, and again requested that appellant return the items. Appellant refused. Evelyn Hernandez, a store manager, also had followed appellant outside. She approached appellant, stating, “Stop. Can I see your bag?” Appellant responded, “Get away from me,” and began walking away from her. Hernandez got in front of appellant and began walking backwards. She held out her hand to “keep space between us.” When Hernandez noticed that appellant was walking toward a vehicle, she stated, “‘If you go to the car,’ I [will] write down the license 1 All further statutory citations are to the Penal Code, unless otherwise stated.