People v. Reed CA2/2

Filed 5/6/21 P. v. Reed CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

THE PEOPLE, B301475

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA105464) v.

JAMAL REED,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Gary J. Ferrari, Judge. Affirmed.

Juliana Drous, 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, Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr., and Steven D. Matthews, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

****** Jamal Reed (defendant) appeals his conviction for attempted voluntary manslaughter and the resulting 20-year prison sentence on the grounds of (1) insufficiency of the evidence, and (2) the trial court’s erroneous failure to exercise its discretion in dismissing two sentencing allegations stemming from his 1994 robbery conviction. His arguments lack merit, so we affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND I. Facts During the first few days of December 2016, Humberto Moreno (Moreno) was hosting a multi-day birthday celebration for himself in the common area of an apartment complex in Long Beach, California. Around 6:00 p.m. on December 3, Moreno heard a commotion in one of the complex’s apartments where his friend lived and went to check it out. As he entered the apartment, Moreno saw eight to 10 people in the apartment’s living room. One of those people was defendant, who had been a long-term guest in that apartment for a few months. After Moreno and defendant exchanged “What’s up?” greetings, defendant told Moreno, “I don’t like you . . . , cuz” and punched Moreno in the chest. The two men exchanged several blows. Moreno was younger and bigger than defendant, and managed to knock defendant to the ground two times. While defendant was on the ground the second time, defendant told a second man in the room to “get [Moreno]. It’s your turn.” As Moreno and the second man started to exchange blows, defendant pulled out a knife and stabbed Moreno in the leg. Moreno fell backwards, knocking down a glass TV stand, and landing on his back. At that point, and as the second man was punching Moreno, defendant crouched over Moreno and stabbed him 20