People v. Gonzalez

Filed 1/6/21 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B297509

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YA097910) v.

LEONARD LEJOHN GONZALEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Edmund Willcox Clarke, Jr., Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part. Joy A. Maulitz under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr., Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Allison H. Chung, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

A jury convicted Leonard Lejohn Gonzalez of robbing three people to help his gang. The gang enhancements, however, lack substantial support. We strike them and otherwise affirm. Unspecified statutory citations are to the Penal Code. I Gonzalez snatched necklaces from three people. On January 9, 2018, a man in a hooded sweatshirt approached Young Soon Kim and her daughter at her car in a grocery store parking lot. It was dark. The man grabbed a gold necklace around Kim’s neck. She grabbed it too. It broke and the man ran away with half, leaving scratches on Kim’s neck. On February 4, 2018, 81-year-old Francisco Candelario and his wife returned to their residence after shopping. With his hood up, a man in a hooded sweatshirt entered Candelario’s yard. He grabbed a gold necklace from Candelario’s neck. The necklace broke and the man ran off with it. Candelario had paid $5,000 for the necklace. On February 9, 2018, 72-year-old Douglas Olivera was loading groceries into his car in a parking lot. A man in a sweatshirt pushed Olivera against his car and grabbed the gold necklace from Olivera’s neck. An unidentified driver drove the man away in a car, leaving Olivera with “a little bump,” “a red spot on [his] neck.” Olivera could not remember if a hood covered the man’s head. Olivera “might have” seen the man’s neck. An information charged Gonzalez with three counts of second degree robbery (§ 211; counts 1–3). It further alleged counts 1, 2, and 3 were committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C)) and Gonzalez had two prior serious felony convictions (§§ 667, subds. (a)(1) & (d), 1170.12, subd. (b)).