People v. Higgins CA4/1

Filed 9/27/21 P. v. Higgins CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D078460

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCN384699)

CHARLES WILLIAM HIGGINS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Brad A. Weinreb, Judge. Affirmed. Sheila O’Connor, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. A jury convicted Charles William Higgins of corporal injury to a spouse

or cohabitant (Pen. Code,1 § 273.5, subd. (a)). The jury found true allegations of personal use of a deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) and personal

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

infliction of great bodily injury on the victim (§ 12022.7, subd. (e)). Higgins was also convicted of violating a protective order (§ 166, subd. (c)(1)). Higgins admitted a prior serious felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)) and a strike prior (§ 667, subds. (b)-(i)). The court denied Higgins’s motion to replace appointed counsel and denied the motion to dismiss the strike prior. Higgins was sentenced to the upper term on four years for the spousal abuse count, doubled due to the strike prior. The court added one year for the weapon enhancement, five years for the serious felony prior, and five years for the great bodily injury enhancement. The total term imposed was 19 years in prison. Higgins filed a timely notice of appeal. Appellate counsel has filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende) indicating counsel has not been able to identify any arguable issues for reversal on appeal. Counsel asks the court to review the record for error as mandated by Wende. We offered Higgins the opportunity to file his own brief on appeal, but he has not responded. STATEMENT OF FACTS Appellant’s opening brief contains an accurate summary of the facts produced at trial. We will incorporate that summary here for convenience. A. The Relationship Between Higgins and H. Watson Higgins and Watson dated for four years from 2012 to 2016, when their relationship ended on Watson’s birthday, in July, 2016. It ended because Higgins was angry and upset that Watson had gone out with a girlfriend on her birthday. He had a history in the relationship with being always angry. On that particular day, after she returned from her night out, they got into an argument, and he held her hostage with a loaded gun for two and one-half hours and threatened to kill her and her daughter. Higgins had been keeping