People v. Vu CA4/3

Filed 8/30/23 P. v. Vu CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G061610

v. (Super. Ct. No. 19CF1757)

BRANDON MATTHEW VU, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Andre Manssourian, Judge. Affirmed. Siri Shetty, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Steve Oetting and Heather B. Arambarri, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Appellant contends his convictions for possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022) __ U.S. __ [142 S.Ct. 2111] (Bruen). However, Bruen and its progeny make clear that right applies only to law-abiding, responsible citizens. Because appellant has rather spectacularly demonstrated he is not such a person, we reject his constitutional challenge and affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On the afternoon of June 25, 2019, appellant and Orlando Arballo confronted a man on a sidewalk in Santa Ana. During the encounter, Arballo brandished a gun and took the man’s wallet, headphones and phone charger. Then he and appellant left the scene in a black Mercedes Benz that was waiting in the area. About 20 minutes later, the Mercedes pulled up to three teenagers in a nearby neighborhood. Arballo and appellant exited the vehicle with guns and ordered the teens to turn over their property, which they did. As before, Arballo and appellant got away in the Mercedes, but not for long. That night, the police spotted the Mercedes on the roadway in Santa Ana. When they tried to pull it over, the vehicle sped off and crashed into a post. At that point, Arballo and a woman fled the vehicle on foot, while appellant remained behind in the backseat. After he was arrested, the police found two firearms and a bag of ammunition in the car, and more ammunition in appellant’s shirt pocket. Appellant’s DNA was found on one of the firearms, and Arballo’s DNA was found on the other. At trial, the parties stipulated appellant had previously been convicted of a felony. The jury found him guilty of four counts of robbery and one count each of possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing ammunition as a felon. (Pen. Code, §§ 211/212.5, subd. (c), 29800, subd. (a)(1), 30305, subd. (a)(1); all further statutory