Court Opinion

ID: 9389539
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-25 20:02:47.620105+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:28.345359
License: Public Domain

Filed 4/25/23 P. v. Chavez CA2/8
   NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 EIGHT

THE PEOPLE,                                                  B321819

     Plaintiff and Respondent,                               (Los Angeles County
                                                              Super. Ct. No. NA083210)
                   v.

CESAR DANIEL CHAVEZ,

     Defendant and Appellant.

     APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los
Angeles County. Judith L. Meyer, Judge. Affirmed.

     James R. Bostwick, Jr., under appointment by the Court of
Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

         No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

                                        **********
        Defendant and appellant Cesar Daniel Chavez appeals
from the denial of his petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal
Code section 1172.6 (former § 1170.95). During the pendency of
this appeal, former section 1170.95 was renumbered and
recodified as section 1172.6 with no change in the text.
(Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) For clarity, we refer to former
section 1170.95 only by its new designation (section 1172.6).
        We affirm.
           FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY
        Alex Malinov stored equipment from his vending machine
business at a storage facility in Harbor City. He had an
agreement with the owner of the facility to live on-site, acting as
a security guard. On the evening of September 3, 2009,
Mr. Malinov was involved in an altercation with defendant at the
facility. Defendant attacked Mr. Malinov, causing a grievous
injury to his neck, as well as additional lacerations on his head
and chest.
        Defendant was charged by information with one count of
willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder (Pen.
Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 664; count 1) and one count of mayhem
(§ 203; count 2) arising from an altercation on September 3, 2009.
It was alleged as to count 1 that defendant inflicted great bodily
injury (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)) and, as to both counts, that
defendant used a deadly and dangerous weapon (cutting object)
in the commission of the offenses (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). It was
further alleged defendant committed both offenses for the benefit
of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street
gang within the meaning of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1), and
that defendant had suffered a prior felony conviction within the

                                 2
meaning of section 667.5 (2007 conviction for violation of
Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a)).
       After a jury trial at which defendant testified and
explained his actions as being in self-defense, the jury found
defendant guilty as charged and found true the special
allegations. The court sentenced defendant on count 1,
attempted first degree murder, to a life term with the possibility
of parole and imposed additional terms for count 2 and various
enhancements.
       Defendant appealed. We affirmed in part and reversed in
part, concluding that defendant was entitled to a retrial on the
prior conviction allegation and to a modification of his sentence to
reflect a stay pursuant to Penal Code section 654 as to count 2.
We otherwise affirmed the balance of the judgment. (People v.
Chavez (Jan. 6, 2012, B225900) [nonpub. opn.].)
       On remand, the court imposed stays on count 2 (mayhem),
the gang enhancement and the prior conviction enhancement,
and prepared and forwarded a new abstract of judgment showing
the corrected sentence to the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
       In the fall of 2018, Senate Bill 1437 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.)
was passed, amending Penal Code sections 188 and 189 to
narrow accomplice liability for felony murder and eliminate the
natural and probable consequences doctrine as it relates to
murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 2, § 3.) Senate Bill 1437 also
added section 1172.6 which sets forth a procedure for individuals
convicted of felony murder or murder under a natural and
probable consequences theory to petition for resentencing.
(Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 4.)

                                 3
       In 2021, Senate Bill 483 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) was
passed, which added Penal Code section 1171.1, effective
January 1, 2022. (Stats. 2021, ch. 728, § 3.) Thereafter, former
section 1171.1 was renumbered and recodified as section 1172.75.
(Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 12.) Section 1172.75, subdivision (a)
provides that “[a]ny sentence enhancement that was imposed
prior to January 1, 2020, pursuant to subdivision (b) of [s]ection
667.5, except for any enhancement imposed for a prior conviction
for a sexually violent offense . . . is legally invalid.”
       In April 2022, defendant filed, in propria persona, a
petition for resentencing pursuant to section 1172.6 alleging the
information charging him with attempted murder allowed the
prosecution to proceed under the natural and probable
consequences doctrine or another theory based on imputed
malice, he was convicted of attempted murder under one such
theory, and that he could not now be convicted of attempted
murder in light of the amendments to the murder statutes
effected by Senate Bill 1437. Defendant requested the
appointment of counsel. Defendant concurrently sought relief
pursuant to Senate Bill 483, alleging that his one-year prior
conviction enhancement was improper under the new legislation
and resentencing was warranted.
       On May 3, 2022, the trial court summarily denied
defendant’s petition, finding he failed to establish a prima facie
case for relief because he was convicted of attempted murder as
the actual and sole assailant and not under a felony murder or
natural and probable consequences theory. The court also denied
relief on the prior conviction enhancement stating, among other
things, that the enhancement had been previously stayed and

                                4
defendant was not serving any additional time for that
enhancement.
       This appeal followed. We appointed appellate counsel to
represent defendant. Defendant’s appointed counsel, James R.
Bostwick, Jr., filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979)
25 Cal.3d 436 in which no issues were raised. The Wende brief
included a declaration from Mr. Bostwick in which he explains
that he forwarded the brief and the record to defendant, advised
him of his right to file a supplemental brief and his right to
discharge him as his attorney. Mr. Bostwick also stated his
availability to brief, upon request, any issues we may have
following our independent review of the case.
       Defendant filed a two-page supplemental brief.
                            DISCUSSION
       Defendant’s supplemental brief raises the following issues:
(1) the court should have considered the fact that the victim
(Mr. Malinov) was under the influence of alcohol; (2) the court
imposed full-term consecutive sentences in violation of Penal
Code section 654; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support a
finding defendant acted with premeditation and deliberation;
(4) the trial court erred in excluding impeachment of the victim
with acts of moral turpitude; (5) the trial court erred in refusing
to strike evidence related to the service of a gang injunction; and
(6) cumulative error.
       None of the issues raised by defendant related to the trial
court’s denial of his resentencing petition which is the subject of
this appeal. All of the issues should have been raised, if at all, on
direct appeal. Indeed, most of the issues were raised and rejected
in defendant’s direct appeal in 2012, including defendant’s claims
of evidentiary error, cumulative error and insufficient evidence of

                                  5
premeditation. Defendant’s claim pursuant to Penal Code
section 654 was conceded by respondent in 2012. We reversed,
and on remand the court imposed a stay and prepared a corrected
abstract of judgment.
       In any event, the trial court’s denial of defendant’s request
for resentencing is unequivocally supported by the record. We
have examined the entire record of proceedings and are satisfied
there are no arguable appellate issues. The record demonstrates
that defendant was found guilty of attempted murder as the sole
assailant who acted with premeditation and intent to kill.
       As for defendant’s request for resentencing on the prior
conviction enhancement which was filed in April 2022, it was
procedurally improper and therefore properly denied. Penal Code
section 1172.75 “establishes a mechanism to provide affected
defendants a remedy” for legally invalid prior conviction
enhancements. (People v. Burgess (2022) 86 Cal.App.5th 375,
380.) “Subdivision (b) of section 1172.[7]5 directs the Secretary of
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and
the correctional administrator of each county to ‘identify those
persons in their custody currently serving a term for a judgment
that includes an enhancement described in subdivision (a)’ ” and
to provide that information to the sentencing court. (Ibid.) For
individuals like defendant who are not currently serving time for
that enhancement (defendant’s term is stayed), the Secretary had
until July 1, 2022, to provide that information to the sentencing
court. (Ibid.) The sentencing court has until December 31, 2023,
to complete resentencing for those individuals. (Id. at p. 381.)

                                 6
                          DISPOSITION
     The order denying defendant and appellant Cesar Daniel
Chavez’s petition for resentencing is affirmed.

                      GRIMES, Acting P. J.

     WE CONCUR:

                      WILEY, J.

                      VIRAMONTES, J.

                              7