California Court of Appeal Apr 29, 2013 No. D060328Unpublished
Filed 4/29/13 P. v. Carter CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D060328
Plaintiff and Respondent,
v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD208826)
JAMES L. CARTER,
Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Kenneth
K. So, Judge. Affirmed.
A jury convicted James L. Carter of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of
first degree murder, and three counts of attempted murder. The jury also found true gang
and firearm enhancements that were attached to the counts. Carter appeals, contending
the trial court erred when it (1) erroneously admitted evidence of items seized from his
home, and (2) failed to stay the sentence for conspiracy to commit murder under Penal
Code section 654 (section 654). We reject Carter's contentions and affirm the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Because Carter does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his
convictions, we summarize the pertinent facts to provide background for our discussion
On December 31, 2002, a car full of suspected Lincoln Park gang members shot
Jason and Thomas Brown, both members of a rival Skyline gang. Thomas died from his
injuries and Jason was hospitalized for several days. Carter, who was also a member of a
Skyline gang, visited Jason in the hospital. During that visit, Jason told Carter that
Lincoln Park gang members were responsible for the shooting. In response, Carter
inquired about guns and Jason directed him to a duffel bag at Jason's father's house that
had an AK and handguns. That same day, Carter and his wife, Jenell Robinson, went to a
Big 5 Sporting Goods (Big 5) store where Robinson purchased a box of ammunition for
Carter.
The next day, Carol Waites and Sharen Burton, two innocent bystanders, were
killed during a drive-by shooting outside Dr. J's liquor store, a known hangout for
Lincoln Park gang members and affiliates. Waites's seven-year-old nephew, Ozvie
Harris, was also shot and injured. There were several Lincoln Park gang members and
affiliates, including Travis Kirk, Kaelin Nelson, and Peter Cruz, at Dr. J's during the
shooting. Nelson was shot in his lower left leg, and Cruz was injured on his back and
shoulder.
Officers found several bullets, bullet fragments, shell casings, shotgun slugs and
shotgun wadding at the scene of the shooting. Based on this evidence, officers
2
determined that the perpetrators used at least five different firearms, including an AK-47,
a .45 caliber handgun, a .380 caliber handgun, a 12-guage shotgun, and a nine-millimeter
handgun. Officers could not rule out whether revolvers or other firearms were also used
because revolvers do not leave shell casings and some shell casings may not have been
recovered. Police never recovered any firearms that could be matched to the casings
found at the scene.
Approximately four months after the shooting, officers searched Carter's home.
They found two revolvers, two boxes of ammunition, and a bulletproof vest. Both
firearms were inoperable. The two boxes of ammunition had tags on them indicating that
they were purchased from Big 5.
The prosecution's case included testimony from several cooperating informants,
including members of Carter's gang and rival gangs. Some informants received financial
benefits from the county or leniency in their sentence in unrelated cases. Multiple
witnesses testified that they heard Carter admit to being one of the shooters at Dr. J's
liquor store. One witness also testified that he saw Carter with a duffel bag full of guns,
including an AK, at Brown's house before the shooting and another witness stated that he
saw Carter with an AK-47 on the night of the shooting.
DISCUSSION
I. Alleged Evidentiary Error
Carter argues he was denied due process and a fair trial because the trial court
erred by admitting evidence of the guns, ammunition and bulletproof vest found in his
home. Specifically, he asserts that because "the prosecution's case was founded entirely
3
on cooperating witness testimony," the erroneous admission of the evidence tipped the
balance in favor of the prosecution in a close case.
We review a trial court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence for abuse of
discretion. (People v. Scott (2011) 52 Cal.4th 452, 491.) Generally, evidence a
defendant possessed a weapon not used in the crime charged is inadmissible as such
evidence "leads logically only to an inference that defendant is the kind of person who
surrounds himself with deadly weapons—a fact of no relevant consequence to
determination of the guilt or innocence of the defendant." (People v. Henderson (1976)
58 Cal.App.3d 349, 360; see also People v. Riser (1956) 47 Cal.2d 566, 577 (Riser).)
Nonetheless, evidence of the defendant's possession of a weapon is admissible when it is
probative on issues other than the defendant's propensity to possess weapons. (See, e.g.,
People v. Jablonski (2006) 37 Cal.4th 774, 821–822; People v. Cox (2003) 30 Cal.4th
916, 956.)
In this case, the prosecution argued the disputed evidence was admissible to
corroborate Robinson's testimony that she purchased ammunition for Carter at Big 5
shortly before the shooting and was relevant to show that Carter was part of a conspiracy
to provide ammunition to the gang to commit the murders. Further, the prosecution's
gang expert relied in part on evidence that Carter possessed weapons, ammunition and a
bulletproof vest to conclude Carter was an active member of a criminal street gang.
While we conclude the evidence was only minimally relevant to corroborate Robinson's
testimony and prove the conspiracy count and gang allegations, the evidence was not
prejudicial.
4
In regard to prejudice, "we are concerned only with the possibility of an emotional
response to the proposed evidence that would evoke the jury's bias against [Carter] as an
individual unrelated to his guilt or innocence." (People v. Gunder (2007) 151
Cal.App.4th 412, 417 (Gunder).) Such an emotional response by jurors to the challenged
evidence, or their confusion or being misled by that evidence, was unlikely here because
the evidence was no more prejudicial than other evidence in the case. Jurors heard
testimony from multiple witnesses that Carter was a gang member and admitted to being
involved in the Dr. J's shootings. Additionally, there was other evidence that Carter
possessed a weapon on the night of the murders. (See Riser, supra, 47 Cal.2d at pp. 577–
578 [no prejudice in admitting evidence of other firearm and ammunition possessed by
defendant when jury would have concluded from other properly admitted firearm
evidence that defendant possessed firearms]; Gunder, at p. 417 [no undue prejudice in
admission of evidence of defendant's prior firearm possession when firearm possession
was "inherent in the offenses at issue"].) The jurors also heard evidence that the firearms
found in Carter's home were inoperable and were informed that it was not illegal for
Carter to own a bulletproof vest. We presume the jury considered this information.
Under these circumstances, it is not reasonably likely that the jury would have reached a
result more favorable to Carter had the disputed evidence been excluded and any error in
the admission of that evidence was harmless. (People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818,
836.)
Finally, we reject Carter's arguments that the admission of the firearms,
ammunition, and bulletproof vest evidence deprived him of due process. "Ordinarily,
5
even erroneous admission of evidence does not offend due process unless it is so
prejudicial as to render the proceeding fundamentally unfair." (People v. Esayian (2003)
112 Cal.App.4th 1031, 1042; People v. Partida (2005) 37 Cal.4th 428, 436 ["the
admission of evidence, even if error under state law, violates due process only if it makes
the trial fundamentally unfair"].) Having reviewed the entire record of the trial, we do
not find this is a case where the disputed evidence was so uniquely inflammatory that it
rendered the trial fundamentally unfair. Accordingly, we reject Carter's due process
arguments.
II. Section 654
The trial court sentenced Carter to 50 years to life for conspiracy to commit
murder (count 1), consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole, doubled, for
the two murder counts (counts 2–3), and three consecutive 30 years to life terms for the
attempted murder counts (counts 5–7). The court also imposed consecutive 25 years to
life terms as to each count for the firearm enhancements.
Carter argues the trial court erred by failing to stay his sentence for conspiracy to
commit murder under section 654 because the conspiracy did not have an objective
separate from the other offenses. We disagree.
Section 654 prohibits multiple punishment for an indivisible course of conduct
even though it violates more than one statute. (People v. Hicks (1993) 6 Cal.4th 784,
789.) Whether a course of conduct is indivisible depends on the intent and objective of
the actor. (Neal v. State of California (1960) 55 Cal.2d 11, 19.) "If all the offenses were
incident to one objective, the defendant may be punished for any one of such offenses but
6
not for more than one." (People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 551.) However, even if
the defendant entertained but a single principle objective during an indivisible course of
conduct, he may be punished separately for multiple convictions if he committed crimes
of violence against different victims. (People v. Champion (1995) 9 Cal.4th 879; People
v. Anderson (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 331, 338.)
"It is of course true that . . . section 654 prohibits the imposition of sentences,
whether concurrent or consecutive, for both a murder and conspiracy to commit the
murder. [Citations.] However, 'if "a conspiracy had an objective apart from an offense
for which the defendant is punished, he may properly be sentenced for the conspiracy as
well as for that offense. [Citation.]" ' " (People v. Moringlane (1982) 127 Cal.App.3d
811, 819 (Moringlane) [finding section 654 does not bar multiple punishment for murder
and conspiracy to commit murder where the murder victim was not the subject of the
conspiracy].)
Here, the jury found Carter guilty of conspiring to murder rival gang members,
whereas the victims of the murder charges were nongang members Waites and Burton.
Accordingly, as in Moringlane, Waites's and Burton's deaths were not the object of the
conspiracy and section 654 does not bar multiple punishment. (Moringlane, supra, 127
Cal.App.3d at p. 819.) Carter argues, however, that Moringlane does not apply because
Waites and Burton became the object of the conspiracy by operation of law under the
transferred intent doctrine (see CALCRIM No. 562), which was reflected in the jury's
findings that the murders were committed for the benefit of a gang. The jury was
instructed that "[i]f the defendant intended to kill one person, but by mistake or accident
7
killed someone else instead, then the crime, if any, is the same as if the intended person
had been killed." We are not convinced by Carter's argument because it still remains that
he had an objective in the conspiracy that was separate and distinct from the other crimes
for which he is being punished, namely murdering Waites and Burton.
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed.
MCINTYRE, J.
WE CONCUR:
HUFFMAN, Acting P. J.
IRION, J.
8
AI Brief
AI-generated · verify before citing
Holding. The court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of weapons and ammunition found in the defendant's home, and that Penal Code section 654 did not bar separate punishment for conspiracy to commit murder because the conspiracy had an objective distinct from the murders of the specific victims.
Issues
Did the trial court err in admitting evidence of items seized from the defendant's home?
Did the trial court err by failing to stay the sentence for conspiracy to commit murder under Penal Code section 654?
Disposition. Affirmed
Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion
“While we conclude the evidence was only minimally relevant to corroborate Robinson's testimony and prove the conspiracy count and gang allegations, the evidence was not prejudicial.”
“Waites's and Burton's deaths were not the object of the conspiracy and section 654 does not bar multiple punishment.”