Filed 11/25/14 P. v. Miller CA2/1 

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS 

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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT 

DIVISION ONE 

THE PEOPLE, 

 Plaintiff and Respondent, 

 v. 

CHRISTOPHER GREER MILLER, 

 Defendant and Appellant. 

 B249695 

 (Los Angeles County 

 Super. Ct. No. NA094764) 

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mark C. 

Kim, Judge. Affirmed. 

Nikoo N. Berenji, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and 

Appellant. 

 Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney 

General, Linda C. Johnson, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Tita Nguyen, Deputy 

Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. 

—————————— 
2 

 A jury found Christopher Greer Miller guilty of one count of resisting an executive 

officer, and one count of making a criminal threat. Miller contends there is insufficient 

evidence to support his conviction for making a criminal threat, and that the trial court erred 

in failing to instruct on the lesser included offense of attempted criminal threat. For reasons 

discussed below, we conclude Miller’s contentions lack merit and affirm. 

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 

In a two count information Miller was charged with resisting an executive officer 

(count 1; Pen. Code, § 691) and criminal threats (count 2; § 422, subd. (a)). The information 

also alleged that Miller suffered a prior conviction within the meaning of sections 667, 

subdivisions (a)(1) and (d), 667.5, subdivision (c), 1170, subdivision (h)(3), 1170.12, 

subdivision (b), and 1192.7. Miller pleaded not guilty and denied the special allegations. 

 A jury convicted Miller as charged. After trial, the prosecution conceded its inability 

to proceed with the prior conviction enhancement allegations, and the court granted Miller’s 

motion to dismiss those allegations. 

 The trial court denied probation and sentenced Miller to a total of two years in state 

prison,2 ordered him to pay various fines and fees and awarded custody credits. This appeal 

followed. 

FACTUAL BACKGROUND 

The prosecution’s case 

On February 13, 2013, Miller, a student at Long Beach City College (LBCC), parked 

in a parking lot reserved for staff. Long Beach City Department Police Officers Patricia 

Kampa and Elizabeth Velasco, were assigned to patrol duty at LBCC on February 13. The 

officers’ uniforms consisted of a khaki top with law enforcement patches and green pants, 

and each carried a gun, walkie talkie, radio and a taser. The campus was undergoing 

 

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. 

2 The trial court sentenced Miller to state prison for two years as to each count, but 

stayed imposition of the sentence as to count 1. (§ 654.) 
3 

renovation at the time, and the construction impacted student parking causing some students, 

including Miller, to park in the lot reserved for staff. The officers issued a citation for 

Miller’s improperly parked car. As the officers left, Miller approached them yelling, cursing 

and demanding to know why he had received a citation. Officer Kampa had never seen 

Miller before. 

 Miller was about 12 to 15 feet away from the officers, moving fast toward them. 

When he was about two or three feet away, Miller repeated, “Why the fuck did you cite 

me?” Officer Kampa asked him to calm down and stop yelling, to which Miller responded, 

“Fuck you. I’m not taking shit.” When Officer Kampa again told Miller to stop yelling, he 

responded, “Obama made you do this, didn’t he.” Miller told Officer Velasco, “you look 

like a fucking guy,” “a fucking dyke,” and called Officer Kampa a “wetback.” He refused 

the officers’ requests to calm down, and continued to yell and curse. Miller refused the 

officers request for identification, instead saying, “Fuck you. I don’t have to listen to you. I 

don’t have to show you shit,” and “You ain’t shit. You are not going to tell me what to do,” 

and began walking away. 

 The officers followed Miller to a nearby building where his carpentry instructor was 

teaching class outdoors. They asked the instructor for appellant’s name and student 

identification number. The instructor saw that Miller was upset and heard him use a lot of 

profanity. The officers asked Miller to leave and told him he was violating the student 

conduct code by which LBCC students must abide. Miller refused to go. The instructor had 

Officer Kampa follow him to a classroom where he had Miller’s information. Miller 

followed along, calling Officer Kampa “a fucking wetback,” and told his instructor not to 

“give that bitch any of my information,” “Don’t give her shit.” 

 Miller followed Officer Kampa and the instructor into the empty classroom, 

continuing to yell profanities. As Officer Kampa and the instructor reviewed the class roster 

at the front of the room, Miller angrily paced back and forth. He profanely refused Officer 

Kampa’s directions to sit down or to remove his hands from his pockets. Miller had not been 

searched and Officer Kampa did not know what was in his pockets. Neither officer saw 
4 

anything to indicate that Miller had a weapon. Miller repeatedly clenched his hands into fists 

when they were not in his pockets. After Officer Velasco came into the classroom, Miller 

continued to pace back and forth between the officers, who kept their distance. He was 

“mad-dogging” Officer Kampa the whole time, and adopted a fighting stance (he looked like 

he wanted to hurt her and his hands were spread apart and fisted). At Officer Kampa’s 

direction, the instructor left the classroom, leaving the officers and Miller in the room. 

 Officer Kampa, who feared for her own and Officer Velasco’s safety,3 requested 

back-up units for assistance. Shortly thereafter she heard Miller mumble something to the 

effect that “Dorner is killing all of you mother fuckers. That is why he is killing you mother 

fuckers.”4 Miller was about 12 feet away from Officer Kampa. He also angrily said, “I’m 

going to kill you and feed you some shit.” He repeated that threat several times, sometimes 

in a whisper and sometimes yelling it loudly. Officer Velasco heard some of the Miller’s 

comments regarding “Dorner,” and about killing Officer Kampa and feeding her shit. The 

instructor did not hear appellant threaten the officers. He heard Miller make statements that 

female officers were incapable of doing a man’s job, and heard him say “shit” a couple of 

times. After making the threats, Miller continued to “pac[e] back and forth.” Officer Kampa 

testified that Miller did nothing aggressively to cause her to draw her weapons. A few 

moments after Officer Kampa’s call for assistance, several officers arrived, including 

Officers McCart and Moreno. Officer McCart noticed that Officers Kampa and Velasco 

stood 10 to 15 feet from Miller, much further away from a contacted individual than the 

arm’s length officers typically stand. Officer Kampa opened the classroom door she had 

locked behind the instructor to let Officer McCart in. 

 Miller was angry and upset. When Officers McCart and Moreno tried to detain him, 

Miller kicked at them with steel-toed boots. Miller continued to struggle with the officers, 

 

3 Officer Kampa is five feet tall, 130 pounds. She testified that Miller was “a lot” 

taller and heavier, about five feet 10 inches, 210 pounds. 

4 At that time Officer Kampa believed the now-deceased Christopher Dorner was 

killing officers and had not been apprehended. 
5 

even after being taken to the ground. Five to seven officers worked together to take Miller 

into custody. 

The defense case 

Cournell McCullough and Kenneth Jones had known Miller for a brief time; they met 

through a carpentry class at LBCC and carpentry club. On February 13, they saw two 

officers follow Miller into a classroom adjacent to the tool room where McCullough and 

Jones were working. McCullough did not hear the conversation between Miller and the 

officers. Neither student heard Miller threaten to kill officers. McCullough did not hear 

anything after the classroom door was shut after the instructor left. Jones could tell that 

Miller was upset about a ticket and heard him say something about “[f]ucking dykes trying to 

do the job of a man.” He heard the officers tell Miller to shut up. Jones and McCullough 

tried to calm Miller down before he went into the classroom. After that the officers did not 

let anyone talk to him. 

DISCUSSION 

1. There is substantial evidence that Officer Kampa was reasonably in sustained fear 

 Miller argues there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction of making a 

criminal threat. Specifically, he maintains the evidence does not show Officer Kampa was 

reasonably in sustained fear for her safety.5

 “‘A reviewing court faced with such a claim determines “whether, after viewing the 

evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have 

found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” [Citations.] We 

examine the record to determine “whether it shows evidence that is reasonable, credible and 

of solid value from which a rational trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a 

reasonable doubt.” [Citation.] Further, “the appellate court presumes in support of the 

judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence.” 

[Citation.] This standard applies whether direct or circumstantial evidence is involved. 

 

5 Miller does not take issue with his conviction for resisting an executive officer. 
6 

“Although it is the jury’s duty to acquit a defendant if it finds the circumstantial evidence 

susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one of which suggests guilt and the other 

innocence, it is the jury, not the appellate court[,] that must be convinced of the defendant’s 

guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citation.] ‘“If the circumstances reasonably justify the 

trier of fact’s findings, the opinion of the reviewing court that the circumstances might also 

reasonably be reconciled with a contrary finding does not warrant a reversal of the 

judgment.”’” [Citation.]’ [Citation.]” (People v. Virgil (2011) 51 Cal.4th 1210, 1263.) 

 “In order to prove a violation of section 422,6 the prosecution must establish all of the 

following: (1) that the defendant ‘willfully threaten[ed] to commit a crime which will result 

in death or great bodily injury to another person,’ (2) that the defendant made the threat ‘with 

the specific intent that the statement . . . is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of 

actually carrying it out,’ (3) that the threat—which may be ‘made verbally, in writing, or by 

means of an electronic communication device’—was ‘on its face and under the 

circumstances in which it [was] made, . . . so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and 

specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate 

prospect of execution of the threat,’ (4) that the threat actually caused the person threatened 

‘to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family’s safety,’ 

and (5) that the threatened person’s fear was ‘reasonabl[e]’ under the circumstances.” 

(People v. Toledo (2001) 26 Cal.4th 221, 227–228.) The determination of whether there is 

sufficient evidence to support a criminal threats conviction is made by evaluating the totality 

of the circumstances, including the parties’ prior contacts and the manner in which the 

 

6 Section 422 provides: “Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime 

which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent 

that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication 

device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, 

on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, 

immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an 

immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to 

be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety, shall 

be punished . . . .” 
7 

communication was made, to determine whether the communication conveyed to the victim 

a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat. (In re Ricky T.

(2001) 87 Cal.App.4th 1132, 1137 (Ricky T.); People v. Solis (2001) 90 Cal.App.4th 1002, 

1013 (Solis).) In determining whether a criminal threat was made, the jury may consider “all 

of the circumstances;” “the threatening statement does not have to be the sole cause of the 

victim’s fear.” (Solis, at p. 1014.) 

Officer Kampa testified that Miller threatened several times to kill her and feed her 

feces. Those threats followed on the heels of a verbal offensive in which Miller loudly and 

with hostility hurled racist and sexist slurs and profanities. The threats were also made after 

a comment in which Miller expressed empathy for Christopher Dorner (Dorner), a former 

police officer who had very recently been on a well-publicized rampage in which he tried to 

kill law enforcement officers and members of their families, and succeeded in some of his 

attempts. 

 Miller does not dispute that the evidence was sufficient to support the first three 

elements of section 422. He argues only that the prosecution failed to prove that Officer 

Kampa reasonably was in fear for the requisite sustained period of time. The record reflects 

that Miller’s threats were made after Officer Kampa made a call requesting back-up officers, 

and that two-to-five minutes elapsed before that back-up assistance arrived and Miller was 

subdued. Miller argues that Officer Kampa’s fear was momentary and fleeting. He also 

contends there was an insufficient showing that Officer Kampa’s fear was reasonable 

because his angry words were not accompanied by physical violence, there was no 

contentious history between himself and Officer Kampa, Officer Kampa had no reason to 

believe he carried a weapon at the time of the threats and she felt no need to use any weapon 

she carried. 

 Section 422 does not define “sustained fear.” Case law has defined the term to mean 

“a period of time that extends beyond what is momentary, fleeting, or transitory.” (People v. 

Allen (1995) 33 Cal.App.4th 1149, 1156 (Allen).) The period need not be lengthy. (Ibid. 

[under the circumstances, 15 minutes of fear was sufficient]; People v. Fierro (2010) 180 
8 

Cal.App.4th 1342, 1348–1349 & fn. 5 (Fierro) [sustained fear element satisfied where 

defendant’s threat to kill the victim and display of a weapon lasted just “a minute or so,” but 

victim remained afraid for 15 minutes after reaching a place of safety and calling police]; 

Ricky T., supra, 87 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1139–1140; CALCRIM No. 1300.) 

 The element of sustained fear also “requires proof of a mental element in the victim.” 

(Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th at p. 1156.) The threat must “be such as to cause a reasonable 

person to be in sustained fear for his personal safety. . . . The phrase to ‘cause[ ] that person 

reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety’ has a subjective and an objective 

component. A victim must actually be in sustained fear, and the sustained fear must also be 

reasonable under the circumstances.” (Ricky T., supra, 87 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1139–1140.) 

“Section 422 requires that the communication must be sufficient ‘on its face and under the 

circumstances in which it is made’ to constitute a criminal threat.” (In re Ryan D. (2002) 100 

Cal.App.4th 854, 860.) In determining whether a criminal threat has been made the jury 

should consider “all of the surrounding circumstances” and “the threatening statement does 

not have to be the sole cause of the victim’s fear.” (Solis, supra, 90 Cal.App.4th at p. 1014.) 

 Neither the statute or case law requires a particular length of time for a finding of 

sustained fear. A “sustained” period is that “period of time that extends beyond what is 

momentary, fleeting, or transitory.” (Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th at p. 1156 & fn. 6 [“no 

minimum time period is required, only a period ‘not insubstantial’”]; Ricky T., supra, 87 

Cal.App.4th at pp. 1139–1140.) Obviously, not every fearful experience satisfies this 

standard. (Ricky T., at p. 1140 [“Clearly, if any experience of fear constitutes a ‘sustained’ 

experience, then the term is superfluous.”].) Case law has established parameters. 

 In Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th 1149, the court found that “[f]ifteen minutes of fear of 

a defendant who is armed, mobile, and at large, and who has threatened to kill the victim and 

her daughter, is more than sufficient to constitute ‘sustained’ fear for purposes of this 

element of section 422.” (Id. at p. 1156.) In Allen, the defendant had previously broken into 

the victim’s daughter’s home and had repeatedly stalked and assaulted the victim’s daughter. 

(Id. at pp. 1151–1152.) The victim had filed police reports on those incidents. (Id. at 
9 

p. 1153.) The defendant, who had a practice of looking inside the victim’s home, went by 

the victim’s house several times on the day of the incident at issue. (Id. at pp. 1155, 1156.) 

He approached the victim’s back door brandishing a gun and threatened to kill her and her 

daughter. The victim called the police who arrested the defendant within “‘about fifteen 

minutes or so.’” (Id. at p. 1156.) The court found the victim’s knowledge of the defendant’s 

prior conduct was relevant to establish a state of sustained fear. (Ibid.) 

 In Ricky T., supra, 87 Cal.App.4th 1132, the court applied Allen’s definition of 

sustained fear and found that a teacher’s fear was fleeting and insufficient to support a 

section 422 offense. (Id. at p. 1140.) In Ricky T., a high school student left the classroom to 

use the restroom and found the door locked upon his return. He pounded on the door and as 

the teacher opened it, the door accidentally hit the student. The student became angry, cursed 

the teacher and threatened to “get” him (stating “I’m going to kick your ass”), but made no 

physical movements or gestures. The teacher felt threatened and sent the student to the 

school office. (Id. at pp. 1135–1136.) The court found the teacher’s fear insufficient in the 

absence of evidence showing he felt fear beyond the momentary angry utterances. (Id. at 

p. 1140.) It observed that the police were not called about the incident until the following 

day, there was no history of disagreements between the student and the teacher, and the 

threat was not accompanied by a show of force or violence. (Id. at pp. 1138, 1140.) Indeed, 

the student complied with the teacher’s demand, left the scene and went to the school office. 

The court in Ricky T. concluded that the student’s “statement was an emotional response to 

an accident rather than a death threat that induced sustained fear.” (Id. at p. 1141.) 

 More recently, the appellate court in Fierro, supra, 180 Cal.App.4th 1342, considered 

again the sustained fear element. In Fierro, the victim and his son had an altercation with the 

defendant (whom they did not know) at a gas station. (Id. at p. 1344.) The defendant drove 

off, but returned. (Id. at p. 1345.) The victim attempted to drive away. Before he was able 

to leave the defendant confronted him in his car, displayed a weapon in his waistband while 

yelling obscenities, and threatened to kill the victim and his son. (Id. at pp. 1345–1346.) 

This second encounter lasted about one minute; the threat itself lasted about 40 seconds. (Id. 
10 

at p. 1349 & fn. 5.) When the victim was able to reach a safe place he called the police, still 

afraid. (Id. at p. 1346.) 

 The court found the evidence supported a finding that the victim experienced 

sustained fear. (Fierro, supra, 180 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1348–1349.) The court observed that 

the victim “testified clearly and more than once that he was horribly scared, and his fright 

was not fleeting.” (Id. at p. 1348.) The evidence was sufficient for a finding that “[t]he fear 

lasted not only through the minute or so that [Fierro] stood there exposing his weapon, but 

for up to 15 minutes after [the victim] drove away,” and “[i]t is entirely reasonable that [the 

victim] would react as he did for as long as he did.” (Ibid.) The court explained that, even 

though the victim was not physically threatened after driving away, the jury could reasonably 

find that he was still in an emotional state of fear. A “person who hears someone say, ‘I will 

kill you . . . right now,’” coupled with seeing a weapon, is quite justified in remaining ‘scared 

shitless’—as [the victim] put it—for 15 minutes.” (Id. at p. 1349.) The court further stated 

that “even if” it accepted appellant’s argument that the only relevant time period was while 

the weapon was displayed, it believed “that the minute during which [the victim] heard the 

threat and saw appellant’s weapon qualifies as ‘sustained’ under the statute. When one 

believes he is about to die, a minute is longer than ‘momentary, fleeting, or transitory.’” 

(Ibid.) 

 Miller compares the present circumstances to Ricky T., supra, 87 Cal.App.4th 1132. 

He argues that unlike cases such as Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th 1149 or Fierro, supra, 180 

Cal.App.4th 1342, in which the victim had prior knowledge of the defendant or the 

defendant’s past conduct (albeit brief in Fierro), there was no prior interaction or relationship 

between him and Officer Kampa, he never attempted to follow through with his threat, and 

Officer Kampa did not testify that she suffered any continuing fear after the back-up officers 

arrived. Nor, unlike the victim in Fierro, did Officer Kampa testify that she believed she 

was “about to die.” Consequently, Miller contends that, like the teacher’s fear in Ricky T., 

Officer Kampa’s fear was no more than fleeting, and ceased to exist beyond the moments of 

the encounter. He argues the circumstances of his threats to Officer Kampa, coupled with 
11 

the brevity of time before the backup officers arrived, demonstrates a lack of substantial 

evidence supporting a finding that Officer Kampa reasonably suffered more than momentary 

fear of what was essentially no more than an hyperbolic “emotional response [to receiving a 

parking citation] rather than a death threat that induced sustained fear.” (Ricky T., at 

p. 1141.) We conclude otherwise. 

 Section 422 does not require a victim to be so immobilized by fright that he or she is 

unable to function. The statute requires sustained fear, not paralysis. (§ 422.) The record 

contains sufficient evidence that Officer Kampa’s fear was more than momentary or fleeting. 

Miller was belligerent and confrontational with Officer Kampa and her partner from the 

outset. He became combative almost immediately, refused to show his identification, hurled 

profanity and racial and sexist slurs at the officers as he followed them and his instructor into 

a classroom. Inside the classroom, Miller continued to refuse Officer Kampa’s orders, 

“maddogging” her, and angrily paced back and forth or adopted a fighting stance with 

clenched fists then, shortly before he repeatedly threatened to kill Officer Kampa and feed 

her feces, Miller expressed empathy for Dorner, a man with a vendetta against police 

officers. Officer Kampa testified she was afraid for her safety. She also feared for others, 

and so had Miller’s instructor leave the room, then locked the door behind him while she 

waited maintained a significant distance from Miller and summoned backup. 

Officer Kampa testified that Miller’s demeanor and behavior caused her to be afraid 

during the duration of her contact with him inside the classroom, which lasted at least a few 

minutes. This was long enough to surpass a “momentary, fleeting, or transitory” period of 

time. Further, when considering whether the elements of section 422 are met, we consider 

the circumstances surrounding the threats, including the manner in which the communication 

was made. “[A]ll of the circumstances can and should be considered in determining whether 

a terrorist threat [pursuant to section 422] has been made.” (Solis, supra, 90 Cal.App.4th at 

p. 1014 [stating that “it is clear a jury can properly consider a later action taken by a 

defendant in evaluating whether the crime of making a terrorist threat has been committed”].) 

Miller yelled at Officer Kampa and made unambiguous, unconditional threats to kill her. 
12 

Officer Kampa took the threats made by a very hostile Miller seriously and was afraid. (See 

People v. Martinez (1997) 53 Cal.App.4th 1212, 1221 [that defendant was “extremely 

angry,” “cursing,” and in “very close proximity” to the victim when making the threat could 

show that he meant serious business when he made the threat].) The circumstances here did 

not resemble those in Ricky T., supra, 87 Cal.App.4th 1132, in which an angry student left 

and went to the office after being told to do so by a teacher whom he threatened, and in 

which, “[w]hatever emotion—fear, intimidation, or apprehension—[the teacher] felt during 

the moment of the verbal encounter, there was nothing to indicate that the fear was more than 

fleeting or transitory.” (Id. at p. 1140.) 

We also disagree with Miller that the jury could not have found Officer Kampa’s fear 

to be reasonable because, unlike the victim in Fierro, supra, 180 Cal.App.4th 1342, Officer 

Kampa had no reason to believe he had access to a weapon and he did not engage in physical 

violence. A defendant’s “mannerisms, affect, and actions” before and after the threat may 

provide evidence that a victim’s fear was reasonable. (Solis, supra, 90 Cal.App.4th at 

pp. 1013–1014.) Here, as discussed above, Miller exhibited unreasonably angry, belligerent 

and combative behavior from the outset of his contact with the officers, reactions vastly out 

of proportion to the anger one might reasonably expect from someone who received a 

parking citation. And Miller’s behavior only became worse as time progressed, as he began 

hurling racial, sexist and ethnic slurs, refused to follow the officer’s orders, expressed 

admiration for a murderer and repeatedly threatened Officer Kampa’s life. The fact that 

Officer Kampa had the instructor leave the room, and that she maintained a significant 

distance from Miller (10 to 15 feet away, in contrast to the typical arm’s length) after he 

threatened her and while waiting for assistance, constitute evidence she was in actual fear. 

That fear was justified. Miller’s anger did not abate and it ultimately took up to seven 

officers to take him into custody and subdue him as he kicked and struggled. Taken 

together, Officer Kampa’s testimony and Miller’s erratic behavior, constitute sufficient 

evidence to support an inference from which the jury could conclude Officer Kampa was 

reasonably in sustained fear. (See Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th at p. 1156 [victim taking 
13 

immediate steps to protect him or herself, or others, from the threatening individual provides 

further evidence of actual and reasonable fear, and may show that the fear was more than 

“momentary, fleeting, or transitory”].) 

Miller also misconstrues section 422 when he argues that Officer Kampa’s fear was 

unreasonable because he did not follow up his threats with physical violence. “[S]ection 422 

does not require an intent to actually carry out the threatened crime.” (Martinez, supra, 53 

Cal.App.4th at p. 1220.) In Martinez, an extremely angry defendant cursed at the victim 

while in very close proximity to the victim when making the threats. (Ibid.) The court 

recognized that “[t]his type of situation can be very intimidating and can carry an aura of 

serious danger.” Similarly, here, Miller’s disproportionally hostile reaction to a parking 

citation and his repeated threats to kill Officer Kampa were “very intimidating” and carried 

an “aura of serious danger.” (Id. at p. 1221.) Miller need not carry out the threat, so long as 

Officer Kampa reasonably feared an assault as the record sufficiently demonstrates she did. 

A criminal threat is an act of “psychic violence” and “the knowing infliction of mental terror 

is [as] deserving of moral condemnation” as the infliction of physical injury. (Solis, supra, 

90 Cal.App.4th at p. 1024, italics omitted.) In sum, the record contains sufficient evidence to 

support Miller’s conviction for violation of section 422. 

2. No instruction as to the lesser included offense was required 

Miller argues the trial court committed reversible error by failing to instruct on the 

lesser included offense of attempted criminal threats, reiterating his contention that 

substantial evidence of Officer Kampa’s sustained fear was simply not present. We are not 

persuaded. 

Whether requested to do so or not, a trial court must “instruct on a lesser included 

offense . . . if there is substantial evidence the defendant is guilty of the lesser offense, but not 

the charged offense.” (People v. Moye (2009) 47 Cal.4th 537, 556; People v. Breverman

(1998) 19 Cal.4th 142, 177.) There is no duty, however, to instruct on a lesser included 

offense if there is insufficient evidence that the offense committed was less than that charged. 

(Breverman, at p. 154; People v. King (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 1281, 1319.) A lesser offense 
14 

is included in a greater offense, triggering the court’s instructional duty, when either the 

statutory elements test or the accusatory pleading test is satisfied. If the statutory elements, 

or the facts alleged in the accusatory pleading, include all of the elements of the lesser 

offense, such that the greater offense cannot be committed without committing the lesser 

offense, the trial court generally must instruct on the lesser offense. (People v. Smith (2013) 

57 Cal.4th 232, 240.) In assessing a claim of failure to instruct on a lesser included offense, 

“we review independently the question whether the trial court failed to instruct on a lesser 

included offense.” (People v. Cole (2004) 33 Cal.4th 1158, 1215.) 

Attempted criminal threat is a lesser included offense of criminal threat. (People v. 

Toledo, supra, 26 Cal.4th at pp. 230–231.) In Toledo, the Supreme Court explained that a 

person commits an attempted criminal threat “if a defendant, . . . acting with the requisite 

intent, makes a sufficient threat that is received and understood by the threatened person, but, 

for whatever reason, the threat does not actually cause the threatened person to be in 

sustained fear for his or her safety even though, under the circumstances, that person 

reasonably could have been placed in such fear, the defendant properly may be found to have 

committed the offense of attempted criminal threat.” (Id. at p. 231.) Miller contends the 

evidence that Officer Kampa experienced sustained fear was lacking so the court had a duty 

to instruct on attempted criminal threat. 

As we explained above, Officer Kampa’s testimony satisfied the sustained fear 

element of section 422. Officer Kampa described her intense fear during the threatening 

episode, fear that continued at least until the back-up officers she summoned arrived to help 

subdue Miller. Thus, Officer Kampa endured fear of Miller for “a period of time that 

extend[ed] beyond what is momentary, fleeting, or transitory.” (Allen, supra, 33 Cal.App.4th 
15 

at p. 1156.) Evidence as to that element of fear was not sufficiently weak to require the trial 

court to instruct on attempted criminal threat. 

DISPOSITION 

 The judgment is affirmed. 

 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED. 

 JOHNSON, J. 

We concur: 

 CHANEY, Acting P. J. 

 MILLER, J.*

 

* Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant 

to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.