Court Opinion

ID: 9729676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:46:17.921286+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:00.478532
License: Public Domain

KREMER, P. J.
Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur with the majority opinion insofar as it affirms portions of the judgment. I respectfully dissent on the issue of the great bodily injury instruction. While the majority’s approach has, in the abstract, the virtue of internal logic, I believe its conclusion to violate the intent of the Legislature and to be contrary to both appellate and Supreme Court precedent. I would affirm the judgment in its entirety.
An instruction identical to the instruction challenged here was approved in People v. Villarreal (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 1136, 1139-1141 [219 Cal.Rptr. 371]. In Villarreal the assault victim suffered multiple fractures and displacement of nasal bones. After the assault the victim was on medication to help him breathe and suffered from sinus congestion, headaches and the inability to sleep or concentrate. The victim also suffered two broken teeth and for a month and a half had difficulty chewing. Based upon analysis of statutory and decisional authority, the appellate court stated the instruction “was properly given because a bone fracture, under the circumstances of this case, as a matter of law, ‘. . . constitutes a substantial and significant physical injury within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022.7.’” (Id. at pp. 1139-1140.) I find the analysis in Villarreal to be persuasive and applicable here.
Here victim Rosa suffered a minimum of three fractures of her nasal bones. Her nose was swollen and obviously crooked. She had difficulty *1500breathing. Medical attention was required. A doctor performed a “closed reduction” to reset Rosa’s nose and placed packing in her nostrils for five days. If such medical procedures had been delayed, the need to cut and rebreak the nose would have been more likely. While Rosa’s injuries may differ from those in People v. Villarreal, supra, 173 Cal.App.3d 1136, I believe the harm to Rosa also amounted to great bodily injury as a matter of law.
My conclusion is supported by Penal Code section 243 which establishes enhanced punishments for the crime of battery under various circumstances. Penal Code section 243, subdivision (d), sets forth the punishment for battery where “serious bodily injury” is inflicted on the person. Penal Code section 243, subdivision (e)(5), defines “serious bodily injury” as “a serious impairment of physical condition” specifically including bone fracture. In People v. Burroughs (1984) 35 Cal.3d 824, 831 [201 Cal.Rptr. 319, 678 P.2d 894], the Supreme Court analogized Business and Professions Code section 2053’s term “great bodily harm” to Penal Code section 243’s term “serious bodily injury.” The court held bone fracture was by implication necessarily included within the definition of Business and Professions Code section 2053’s term “great bodily harm.”1 would similarly conclude bone fracture is also by implication necessarily included within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022.7’s term “great bodily injury.” The terms “serious bodily injury” and “great bodily injury” are essentially equivalent. (Ibid.) Logic and consistency require ascribing equivalent meanings to those equivalent terms.
Further, I believe People v. Figueroa (1986) 41 Cal.3d 714 [224 Cal.Rptr. 719, 715 P.2d 680], does not compel a finding the trial court usurped the jury’s function here. The court did not instruct the jury the evidence established an element of any crime or enhancement. Instead, the court simply properly told the jury if it in fact found appellant broke Rosa’s nose during the crime, such fracture constituted great bodily injury.
I would hold the instruction on great bodily injury to be proper.
Respondent’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied May 4, 1989.

The court also noted: “There is no indication the Legislature intended to ascribe a different meaning to ‘great bodily harm,’ as that term is used in section 2053, than is signified by ‘great bodily injury,’ or, for that matter, ‘serious bodily injury,’ in the Penal Code sections we have discussed.” (People v. Burroughs, supra, at p. 831.)