People v. Salinas CA4/1

Filed 4/2/24 P. v. Salinas CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D082011

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD294753)

MIGUEL SALINAS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Aaron H. Katz, Judge. Affirmed. Lizabeth Weis, 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, Robin Urbanski and Juliet W. Park, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. MEMORANDUM OPINION The jury convicted Miguel Salinas of eight counts of various offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and carjacking, based on

incidents occurring on May 19, 2022. The jury also found true a multitude of special allegations relating to the eight counts. The court sentenced Salinas to prison for two terms of life with the possibility of parole, plus an additional 17 years and eight months. Salinas appeals but only challenges the judgment as to two counts: attempted criminal threat (Pen. Code, §§ 664, 422; count 1) and kidnap for extortion (§ 209, subd. (a); count 8). He contends (1) the court prejudicially erred by failing to instruct the jury on an essential element of attempted criminal threat and (2) his conviction for kidnap for extortion is not supported by substantial evidence. Resolving this matter by memorandum opinion (see generally People v. Garcia (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 847, 851-854), we disagree with Salinas and thus affirm. I. The crime of attempted criminal threat consists of three elements: (1) the defendant took a direct but ineffective step toward communicating a criminal threat; (2) the defendant intended to make a criminal threat; and (3) the intended criminal threat was sufficient under the circumstances to cause a reasonable person to be in sustained fear. (People v. Chandler (2014) 60 Cal.4th 508, 525 (Chandler).) We agree with the parties that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury as to the third required element. (See People v. Jackson (2009) 178 Cal.App.4th 590, 595 (Jackson).) Salinas contends this error was prejudicial, while the People maintain it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We agree with the People. To determine whether the error was harmless, we review the circumstances of the case to determine whether “no reasonable juror could have failed to find defendant’s threats sufficient under the circumstances to cause a reasonable person to be in sustained fear.” (Chandler, supra,