People v. Selu CA1/5

Filed 4/1/21 P. v. Selu CA1/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A159356 v. WAYNE SELU, JR., (San Mateo County Super. Ct. No. 18NF000489) Defendant and Appellant.

Wayne Selu Jr. appeals from the judgment imposed after a jury convicted him of felony false imprisonment (Pen. Code § 236)1 and making criminal threats (§ 422, subd. (a)). The jury also found he used a deadly or dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) in committing those offenses. Selu’s appointed appellate counsel has filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436. Our independent review of the record reveals a clerical error in the abstract of judgment but no other arguable issues. We affirm.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1

BACKGROUND A. Kathryn Doe and Selu dated between 2002 and 2004 and then again in 2014 through 2018. Doe first tried to end their relationship in April 2004. At Selu’s request, they met to talk. Doe brought her five-year-old daughter. Selu grabbed Doe’s sweater by the collar and forced her to sit, while he stood above her. Holding a knife in his hand, Selu said something like, “what if I just cut your fucking throat[?]” After Doe told Selu that she hated him, he stabbed her 24 times—in her face, neck, shoulder, hands, and wrists. As a result, Doe was in the hospital for eight days, suffered a permanent eye injury, and has multiple scars, including one that runs down her neck from her left ear. In 2005, Selu was convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter (§§ 192, subd. (a), 664), mayhem (§ 203), felony infliction of corporal injury on a cohabitant (§ 273.5, subd. (a)), and assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)). B. Two years later, Doe began visiting Selu in prison—attempting to understand his actions. Their visits became friendlier and, eventually, Doe forgave him. When Selu was released from prison in 2014, he contacted Doe and they reestablished a romantic relationship. One evening in January 2018, Selu’s car broke down and Doe met him in a parking lot to help. When she arrived, Selu was already angry. Doe stood on the passenger side of his car, while Selu sat in the driver’s seat. He was holding something that looked like a large pastry cutter, but with a thin razor at the end of its curved top. Selu told Doe that he “would slice [her] throat with it.” He made slices in the dashboard with the tool and told Doe