People v. Brown CA2/7

Filed 8/3/22 P. v. Brown CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SEVEN

THE PEOPLE, B317776

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA020150) v.

TABATHA BROWN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a postjudgment order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Richard M. Goul, Judge. Affirmed. Alex Green, under appointment by the Court of Appeal; Tabatha Brown, in pro. per., for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________________

Tabatha Brown was convicted in 1996 following a jury trial of the first degree murder of Ruby Chong with a felony-murder special-circumstance finding and conspiracy to commit murder. We affirmed the convictions on appeal. (People v. Brown (July 15, 1997, B102674) [nonpub. opn.].) On March 29, 2019 Brown, representing herself, filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code former section 1170.95 (now section 1172.6).1 The superior court denied the petition after appointing counsel for Brown and receiving briefing from the prosecutor and Brown’s appointed counsel, finding Brown ineligible for resentencing as a matter of law because the jury finding that she had conspired to murder Chong necessarily meant she had acted with express malice. No arguable issues relating to this order have been identified following review of the record by Brown’s appointed appellate counsel or by Brown in her supplemental letter brief to this court. We also have identified no arguable issues after our own independent review of the record. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The evidence presented at Brown’s trial established that Brown was hired in November 1993 by Chong to live with and care for Chong and Delena Deane’s 88-year-old mother, Fay Dawson. (The two sisters and their mother lived near each other on the same block.) However, shortly after Brown began working