In re Parrish

Filed 12/11/20: Opinion on transfer from Supreme Court CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

In re B292582

(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA260528) KAHEAL JEVON PARRISH

On Habeas Corpus.

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING. Petition for writ of habeas corpus. Kathleen Kennedy, Judge. Petition denied. James M. Crawford, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Petitioner. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Zee Rodriguez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Michael C. Keller, Deputy Attorney General, for Respondent. ____________________

For the crime of murder, a court sentenced Kaheal Jevon Parrish to life in prison without parole. Parrish was not the shooter. A statute nonetheless authorized his sentence, because Parrish was a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life. (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd. (d).) I We view the facts favorably to the prosecution. (People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522, 610 (Clark).) Parrish, Earl Childs, and Zack Gaines planned to rob a market. Parrish and Gaines scouted it beforehand. Then Parrish drove Childs and Gaines to the market in his car. Parrish gave Gaines a gun to use. Parrish knew Childs had one too. Parrish and Childs entered the market during business hours. Gaines came in to say they were taking too long. Childs drew the gun and told people this was a robbery. Parrish began to search an employee for weapons. He saw a woman pushing an alarm and said “she is calling the police.” Parrish was heading for the exit when he heard a gunshot and saw a muzzle flash. Video showed Childs shooting a customer as Parrish jumped the counter. Parrish drove the robbers away. (People v. Parrish (2007) 152 Cal.App.4th 263, 266–268 & fn. 2, 276 (Parrish).) Parrish’s defense was duress. He testified he joined the Rolling 30’s Harlem Crips gang before age 13. Gaines too was a Rolling 30’s member. Parrish testified gang members beat him up for his past police cooperation. Parrish claimed he abandoned the gang but gang members coerced him into this robbery. The prosecution denied it was coercion and said Parrish’s robbery motive was to renew and improve his gang position. (Parrish, supra, 152 Cal.App.4th at pp. 277–279.)