People v. Boyajian

Opinion

AGLIANO, P. J. Defendant Suzanne Boyajian appeals from a judgment of conviction after a court trial of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (b)).1 The People also alleged in the information that defendant was personally armed with a knife and that the offense was a serious felony (§§ 667, 1192.7). On appeal defendant argues the trial court erred: 1) in finding the requisite intent, 2) in failing to state reasons for selecting the midterm, and 3) in finding the present offense to be a serious felony (§§ 667, 1192.7). We shall affirm the judgment as modified for the reasons stated below.

Facts

On February 28, 1989, at 7:30 a.m. uniformed San Jose police officer Edward Marini was parked in an unmarked car at 428 South Market Street in San Jose. Officer Marini was using a hand-held radar device to check for [773]speeding vehicles. Marini saw appellant in the side-view mirror, approaching his car. Appellant approached the driver’s side of the vehicle slowly, with her right arm behind her. When she reached the driver’s door, she brought her right arm up and swung her body to the left. She had a knife in her right hand and she lunged toward Officer Marini’s face. The driver’s side window was open so that he could hold the radar device outside the car, which was the only way it would work.

The knife looked like a serrated steak knife with a five-inch long blade. Appellant jabbed the knife inside the open window, missing Marini’s face by an inch when he jerked his head back. Marini put the car in gear, pulled up 10 feet, rolled up the window, locked the door, and called for assistance. Marini saw appellant running after his car. She made stabbing motions with the knife as she ran and continued to do so when she reached the car. She started yelling something which Marini could not hear.

Officer Pena arrived to assist. Both Marini and Pena got out of their cars and pointed their revolvers at appellant, ordering her to drop the knife. Appellant asked the officers to shoot or kill her, and then she obeyed and threw down the knife. Marini noticed later that appellant’s wrist was bloody.

Officer Joseph Padgett also responded to Marini’s call for help. He helped handcuff appellant. He noticed one of her wrists had been slit and he applied pressure to the wound. Padgett asked appellant what had happened. She told him that she wanted to stab Marini so that he would kill her. Based on appellant’s slit wrist and her request that the officers kill her because she had sinned, Padgett believed appellant was mentally unstable. He arranged for her to be transported to a hospital psychiatric ward.