Opinion
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Tulare County, No. VCF197881, James W. Hollman, Judge.
Katherine Hart, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.
OPINION
Before Vartabedian, Acting P.J., Dawson, J., and Kane, J.
On January 31, 2008, appellant, Candelario Fernandez Cortez, was drinking with a friend in the backyard of his house. That night, as his girlfriend and her three-year-old son slept in the master bedroom, Cortez grabbed the girlfriend in a chokehold, pulled her off the bed, and dragged her by her hair into the son’s bedroom. He then punched her in the face, pushed her into a closet, and pushed her son into a heater. While Cortez went back into the master bedroom to retrieve a gun, the victim picked up her son and left the residence. Cortez followed her to the porch and hit her on the back of the head with the butt of the gun. The victim ran with her son and Cortez fired a shot that struck the ground by her feet. The victim got into her car and Cortez began choking her while attempting to pull her out. The victim managed to drive off and Cortez fired two shots at her.
After Cortez was arrested, officers found a 19mm Glock handgun under the passenger’s seat of his car. In the residence, they found two small bindles containing methamphetamine, a bindle containing marijuana, and digital scales.
On March 21, 2008, the district attorney filed an information charging Cortez with three counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm (counts 1-3/Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (b)) and one count each of discharge of a firearm with gross negligence (count 4/§ 246.3, subd. (b)), child abuse (count 5/§ 273A, subd. (a)), possession of a firearm by a felon (count 6/§ 12021, subd. (a)(1), possession of ammunition by a felon (count 7/§ 12316, subd. (b)(1)), possession of methamphetamine (count 8/Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a)), and battery (count 9/§ 243, subd. (e)(1)). Counts 1 through 3 also alleged a personal use of a firearm enhancement (§ 12022.5, subds. (a) & (d)) and count 8 alleged an arming enhancement pursuant to section 12022, subd. (a)(1).
All further statutory references are to the Penal Code, unless otherwise indicated.
On May 16, 2008, Cortez pled no contest to counts 3, 4, and 5, and admitted the arming enhancement in count 3 in exchange for the dismissal of the remaining counts and enhancements and a lid of nine years.
On August 13, 2008, the court sentenced Cortez to the an aggregate term of nine years, the middle term of six years on count 3, a three-year arming enhancement on that count, and a concurrent two-year term on each remaining count.
Cortez’s appellate counsel has filed a brief which summarizes the facts, with citations to the record, raises no issues, and asks this court to independently review the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) Further, in response to our invitation to submit additional briefing, on January 14, 2009, Cortez filed a letter asking this court to reduce the six-year term imposed on count 3 to three years or alternatively to “erase” one of his strikes. Cortez’s letter does not raise any legal or factual issues.
Following independent review of the record, we find that no reasonably arguable factual or legal issues exist.
The judgment is affirmed.