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Filed 1/6/16 P. v. Garcia CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication 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 TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

RAYMOND THOMAS GARCIA,

Defendant and Appellant.

E064117

(Super.Ct.No. FSB1404618)

OPINION

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Ronald M. 

Christianson, Judge. Affirmed.

Dawn S. Mortazavi, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and 

Appellant.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Defendant Raymond Garcia received a sentence of two years and eight months 

after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition and admitting a strike 

prior. After defendant filed the notice of appeal, this court appointed appellate counsel to 

represent him. Counsel has filed a brief under the authority of People v. Wende (1979) 
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25 Cal.3d 436 and Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738, setting forth a statement of 

the case and identifying potentially arguable issues.

Defendant was offered the opportunity to file a personal supplemental brief, which 

he has done. In his brief, defendant contends his confession was illegally obtained for 

several reasons and the ammunition is inadmissible because the search was improper. 

We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURE 

On September 29, 2014, police were dispatched to investigate a report of a 

Hispanic male with a shotgun. The reporting party stated she had seen the male earlier in 

the afternoon holding a shotgun before entering the garage of a single-story duplex in her 

neighborhood. The reporting party stated she called 911 later in the evening when she 

saw the same male and a few others beating and kicking someone. The Hispanic male 

was again holding a shotgun and entered the home in what the reporting party believed 

was an attempt to hide the shotgun. Responding officers found the victim of the beating 

walking away from the area, covered in blood. The victim was taken to the hospital for 

treatment of “numerous” injuries.

Officers cleared the residents of the surrounding homes for their safety. They 

knocked on the door of the home where defendant was seen with the shotgun. A woman 

and her three children answered the door. Officers asked her if there was anyone else 

inside, and she answered that there were two men and two women. The officers asked 

the women and her children to step outside while they called for everyone inside the 

home to come outside. A man and woman did so. Officers then went inside to clear the 
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home and found defendant and a woman in a back bedroom. The officers detained both 

persons and took them to the front yard. The officers obtained written consent to search 

the home from the woman who owned the home. They found four shotgun shells in the 

cabinets above the refrigerator, but did not find a shotgun. Defendant told the police that 

“they normally keep a shotgun” in the same cabinets where the shotgun shells were 

found, but the police found no shotgun upon a further search. Police found that 

defendant had a no-bail warrant for his arrest and a prior felony conviction, so they 

arrested him.

On January 27, 2015, the People filed an information charging defendant with 

being a felon in possession of ammunition (Pen. Code, § 30305, subd. (a)(1)).1 The 

People also alleged defendant had a prior strike conviction (§§ 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d), & 

667, subds. (b)-(i)), a prior serious felony conviction (§667, subd. (a)(1)), and four prior 

prison convictions (§ 667.5, subd. (b)).

On May 1, 2015, defendant admitted to being a felon in possession of ammunition 

and one of the prior strike convictions. In doing so, defendant initialed the box on the 

change of plea form stating “I waive and give up any right to appeal from any motion I 

may have brought or could bring and from the conviction and judgment in my case since 

I am getting the benefit of my plea bargain.” The court immediately sentenced defendant 

as agreed to the low term of 16 months, doubled for the prior strike conviction to 32 

months.

 

1

 Section references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.
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This appeal followed. The trial court denied defendant’s request for a certificate 

of probable cause.

DISCUSSION 

In his supplemental brief, defendant states that he had stopped by the residence of 

his sister’s friend to use the bathroom while on his way home from the hospital, where he 

had been treated for the flu. Defendant states he was attached to an intra-venous bag of 

antibiotics and was in the bathroom when police came to the residence and removed him 

from the home without any clothing on. It appears from context that defendant’s 

references in his supplemental brief to his “confession” are to the statement he made to 

police while outside the home that they would find a shotgun above the refrigerator.

Defendant first contends the police failed to obtain his consent before searching 

the home. However, police obtained the written consent of the homeowner, and 

defendant says he did not live in the home, so defendant’s consent was not necessary.

(People v. Panah (2005) 35 Cal.4th 395, 466.) 

Defendant argues that his confession was not voluntary because: (1) it was 

obtained through abuse and harassment; (2) he lacked the capacity to voluntarily confess 

because he had just recently been released from the hospital and was under the influence 

of morphine; and (3) the interrogation was prolonged and excessive, especially given his 

ill health. The California Supreme Court has held that a defendant’s guilty plea 

forecloses an appeal of the conviction on the basis that a statement was involuntary. 

“Given the accused’s guilty plea, an extrajudicial statement relating to his guilt of a 

charged crime does not, by reason of a claim that it was involuntarily or improperly 
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induced, raise an issue on appeal based on ‘constitutional, jurisdictional or other grounds 

going to the legality of the proceedings’ resulting in the plea.” (People v. DeVaughn

(1977) 18 Cal.3d 889, 896.) Defendant’s claim of an involuntary statement is therefore 

not reviewable on appeal.

Defendant argues that the ammunition was found outside of his arms’ reach and 

during a warrantless entry into the home, and so it should have been excluded and there 

was insufficient evidence to show the ammunition belonged to him. An argument that 

the conviction was not supported by sufficient evidence is not cognizable on appeal after 

a guilty plea, with or without a certificate of probable cause. (§ 1237.5; People v. Palmer

(2013) 58 Cal.4th 110, 114) As explained above, the warrantless search was legal 

because it was conducted with the homeowner’s written consent.

Under People v. Kelly (2006) 40 Cal.4th 106, we have conducted an independent 

review of the record and find no arguable issues. 

DISPOSITION 

The judgment is affirmed.

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

RAMIREZ

P. J.

We concur:

McKINSTER

J.

CODRINGTON

J.