P. v. Hunt CA2/1

Filed 6/27/13 P. v. Hunt CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 ONE

THE PEOPLE, B240010

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. VA120832) v.

DARRIUS LAMAR HUNT,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Robert J. Higa, Judge. Affirmed. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Katharine J. Galston, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr. and David F. Glassman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Under California law an individual who aids and abets a crime may be liable not only for the crime the individual intended to aid and abet “but also for any other crime that is the ‘natural and probable consequence’ of the target crime.” (People v. Prettyman (1996) 14 Cal.4th 248, 261.) The sole question in this appeal is whether substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding that the use of force or fear was a natural and probable consequence of defendant’s intent to aid in stealing bicycles. The answer is yes. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW Fourteen-year-old Caesar Lopez was riding his “fixie” bike1 in the right-hand lane of Bixbie Avenue when an El Camino truck which had been traveling in the opposite direction suddenly veered into Lopez’ lane forcing him to stop. There were four men in the truck. One of the men said to Lopez: “Give me your bike.” Lopez pedaled his bicycle around the truck and continued down the street. When he looked back he saw that the truck had made a U-turn and was chasing him so he “kept pedaling faster” until he reached Frank’s Bicycles, a store where he believed that he would be safe. When Lopez arrived at the bicycle store he told the owner, Vito Console, that he was being chased by some men in a car “and they tried to steal my bike.” Lopez and Console went outside the store and saw the El Camino parked at the curb. When the men in the truck saw Lopez and Console they drove away. Lopez got the truck’s license number and Console called the Sheriff’s Department. A deputy sheriff stopped the truck approximately a mile from the store. Another deputy brought Lopez to the scene where he identified defendant Darrius Hunt and two other men, Phillip Jones and Jeffrey Gainer, as having been in the truck that forced him to stop. He was unable to tell the deputies which of the men had demanded his bicycle. Sheriff’s deputies arrested the three men in the truck and seized cell phones belonging to Gainer and Hunt. The phones contained text messages between Gainer