People v. Spragans CA1/4

Filed 7/12/16 P. v. Spragans CA1/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A142695 v. DAMEON SPRAGANS, (Contra Costa County Super. Ct. No. 05-110797-8) Defendant and Appellant.

By plea agreement, Dameon Spragans entered a plea of guilty to charges of forcible rape while acting in concert with another person, forcible oral copulation while acting in concert with another person, and forcible sodomy while acting in concert with another person. As part of this negotiated disposition, appellant agreed to testify truthfully for the prosecution in the trial of two co-defendants. For its part, the prosecution dismissed all other charges and recommended that Spragans receive a sentence totaling 31 years in prison. Spragans later reneged on his agreement to testify and moved to withdraw his plea. That motion was denied, and he was sentenced to a total of 42 years in prison, the maximum prison time for the crimes he had admitted. On appeal, appellant’s appointed appellate counsel filed a brief asking this court to conduct an independent review of the record under People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436. Counsel also informed appellant of his right to file a supplemental brief. No such supplemental submission has been received.

1

Having reviewed the record independently, we find no issues that require briefing. We therefore affirm. I. BACKGROUND A. The Kidnapping and Sexual Assault of Doe1 Appellant and his cousins, Derrick Ware and Robert McNeally, spent the evening of February 13, 2010 at the Blue Macaw nightclub in the Mission District in San Francisco. Across the street from the Blue Macaw, at the Medjool nightclub, Jane Doe and a male friend, S. Mungia, were spending the evening with some friends of theirs. Appellant, Ware, and McNeally left the Blue Macaw at around 1:00 a.m., just as Doe and Mungia were leaving the Medjool. Doe and Mungia, who were very drunk, tried to hail a cab to take them to a friend’s house in San Francisco. Appellant, Ware and McNeally offered them a ride, which they accepted. All five then got into McNeally’s black Ford Silverado truck, with McNeally driving, appellant in the front passenger’s seat, and Ware in the backseat with Doe and Mungia. Doe and Mungia immediately passed out. Mungia awoke a short time later while the truck was crossing the Bay Bridge, headed east, and realized that appellant, Ware and McNeally were not dropping them off in San Francisco as promised. While the truck continued to head east, appellant was making derogatory remarks to Mungia and Ware was fondling Doe in the backseat. At approximately 1:30 a.m., the group reached Richmond and McNeally pulled off the freeway so that appellant and Mungia could urinate by the side of the road. While Mungia and appellant were outside the truck, appellant punched Mungia in the face. Mungia fell to the ground, and appellant climbed back into the truck, which then sped off, leaving Doe alone in the company of appellant, Ware and McNeally. Mungia immediately called police to report the kidnapping of Doe. Appellant, McNeally and Ware proceeded another four miles, and stopped along a road in San Pablo. By that point, Doe had awoken, and pleaded to be taken home, but