People v. Martin CA3

Filed 6/1/21 P. v. Martin CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Modoc) ----

THE PEOPLE, C089235

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. F18074)

v.

JOEL DOUGLAS MARTIN,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant Joel Douglas Martin guilty of numerous crimes including three counts of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a))1 and making criminal threats (§ 422, subd. (a)). The trial court subsequently found true a prior strike allegation, as well as two prior prison term allegations, and denied defendant’s petition for mental health diversion. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of eight years in state prison.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1

On appeal, defendant contends the three convictions for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse should be consolidated into a single conviction. We disagree. Defendant further contends the trial court erred in denying his petition for mental health diversion. Pursuant to the recent Supreme Court decision, People v. Frahs (2020) 9 Cal.5th 618 (Frahs), we will conditionally reverse the judgment and remand the matter to the trial court for an eligibility determination under section 1001.36 I. BACKGROUND On February 1, 2018, defendant was angry with his wife, S.M. He accused her of cheating on him. He punched S.M. in the chest and repeatedly punched her in the face. Defendant also “banged” S.M.’s head against the windows of their home and choked her until she was unconscious. Defendant dragged S.M. outside and threw her out of their home, causing her to fall on the front porch. Then he locked her outside along with her two minor children. S.M.’s 10-year-old daughter saw her mom’s lip was “fat” and “bleeding.” She also saw “hand marks” on S.M.’s neck and a bruise on her right arm. A neighborhood child saw the assault and called to his parents; his dad called the police. That child later testified to seeing defendant use a chokehold on S.M. that night, holding her with his left hand while repeatedly punching her with his right. His dad would later testify to witnessing defendant and S.M. argue before and seeing defendant lock S.M. and the children out of the home. He had also seen S.M. previously with a black eye and bruises on her arm. When Police Officer Ken Barnes arrived, he saw S.M.’s mouth was swollen, she was crying, and appeared to be shaken. There was blood inside her mouth and dried blood on her lips. Officer Barnes saw redness and bruising on the left side of S.M.’s neck, and a bruise on each of S.M.’s arms. S.M. told Officer Barnes there was a painful lump on the back of her head, which she said defendant caused when he slammed her head into a table. Several days later, when Police Sergeant Russell Turner interviewed