People v. Harper CA2/6

Filed 2/23/22 P. v. Harper CA2/6

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B308975 (Super. Ct. No. 18CR02287) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Santa Barbara County)

v.

RAPHAEL HARPER III,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted appellant Raphael Harper III of corporal injury to a “dating partner” (Pen. Code, § 273.51). The court sentenced him to 120 days in jail, suspended imposition of the sentence, and granted him three years of probation. Harper contends the trial court erred by admitting evidence of past acts of violence against the victim; by allowing improper expert testimony about domestic violence; by denying his motion for mistrial following a disruption in court by a mentally ill

All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless 1

otherwise stated.

defense sympathizer; and by imposing a three-year probation term instead of a two-year term. We affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Santa Barbara police responded to a domestic disturbance call at the Presidio Apartments on the afternoon of March 12, 2018. The facility’s manager reported a woman arguing loudly over the phone and throwing things inside a second-floor unit. Police knocked several times but no one answered. When they identified themselves as law enforcement she (J.P.) complied. She appeared to have been crying and her right eye was swollen and bloodshot. She told police someone hit her but she was reluctant to identify the assailant. On further questioning, J.P. said her former boyfriend, appellant Harper, punched her during an argument in his car a few days earlier. Harper appeared in the courtyard of the apartment complex while police were questioning J.P. The officer noticed J.P. sob harder and begin shaking when Harper began calling her name from below. She said he had hit her on other occasions and once choked her. They had quarreled over the phone earlier that day because she wanted him to leave her alone. He responded “If I can’t have you nobody can have you.” J.P. believed Harper was at the door when police first knocked. Despite Harper’s earlier threats, she asked police not to hurt him and declined an emergency protective order. J.P. recanted her account when she testified at Harper’s preliminary hearing. She confirmed they had since rekindled their romantic relationship. She explained she “wasn’t feeling too good” when police arrived on March 12 because she had recently suffered a seizure and hit her head. This explained the eye injury observed by officers. She denied arguing with Harper over the phone and now claimed she had been speaking to a