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People v. Mendez

California Court of Appeals, Fifth District
Jun 25, 2024
No. F087342 (Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 25, 2024)

Opinion

F087342

06-25-2024

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SCOTT ALLEN MENDEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

Patricia L. Brisbois, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Office of the State Attorney General, Sacramento, California, for Plaintiff and Respondent.


NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County. No. BF155077A, J. Eric Bradshaw, Judge.

Patricia L. Brisbois, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Office of the State Attorney General, Sacramento, California, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

THE COURT [*]

STATEMENT OF APPEALABILITY

This is an appeal following a guilty plea, authorized by Penal Code section 1237and rule 8.304(b) of the California Rules of Court. Mendez requested and the trial court granted a certificate of probable cause.

All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

All rule references are to the California Rules of Court.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

In May 2014, the People charged Mendez with the murder of another prison inmate; the People alleged special circumstance allegations for multiple murders and lying in wait along with allegations that he had previously been convicted of two prior serious and/or violent felony convictions (§§ 187, subd. (a), 190.2 subd. (a)(2), (15), 667, subds. (a), (c)-(j), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(e)).

In June 2014, the People indicated their intent to seek the death penalty. The preliminary hearing was held in 2016, and the lying-in-wait special circumstance was stricken, but Mendez was otherwise held to answer on the murder charge and other allegations. An information was subsequently filed in June 2016.

The trial date was continued several times after Mendez filed a petition for resentencing under former section 1170.95 (now section 1172.6) relating to his prior felony murder conviction, which was being relied on in the present case for the multiple murder special circumstance. On August 16, 2023, the People moved to dismiss the multiple murder special circumstance allegation after Mendez received resentencing relief in the prior felony murder case. That motion was granted; the People also withdrew the death penalty status from the case.

On September 20, 2023, the People filed an amended information adding count 2 for voluntary manslaughter (§ 192, subd. (a)), and Mendez entered a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter, admitted the prior strike and serious felony conviction allegations and admitted to aggravating factors under rules 4.421(a)(3), (b)(1), (2) and (3) in exchange for a 32-year sentence whereby the court indicated it would strike one of the strike priors. The parties stipulated to the preliminary hearing transcript as the factual basis for the plea. Thereafter, the People moved to dismiss the murder charge in count 1 in the interest of justice and the court granted that motion.

On October 19, 2023, the trial court struck one of the prior strike convictions and sentenced Mendez to an aggregate term of 32 years as follows: for the voluntary manslaughter conviction, the court imposed the upper term of 11 years, doubled to 22 years on the remaining strike prior, and it then imposed two consecutive five-year terms for the serious felony priors. The court imposed a $280 restitution fine and $70 in assessment fees and credited Mendez's sentence with a total of 3,947 days of presentence conduct credits.

On December 13, 2023, Mendez filed a timely notice of appeal.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On March 21, 2013, Mendez was discovered in his locked cell with his deceased cellmate. A subsequent autopsy revealed the cellmate died by strangulation accompanied by blunt force trauma.

APPELLATE COURT REVIEW

Mendez's appointed appellate counsel has filed an opening brief that summarizes the pertinent facts, raises no issues, and requests this court to review the record independently. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende).) The opening brief also includes the declaration of appellate counsel indicating Mendez was advised he could file his own brief with this court. By letter on May 14, 2024, we invited Mendez to submit additional briefing. To date, he has not done so.

Having undertaken an examination of the entire record, we find no evidence of ineffective assistance of counsel or any other arguable error that would result in a disposition more favorable to Mendez.

DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed.

[*]Before Detjen, Acting P. J., Smith, J. and Snauffer, J.


Summaries of

People v. Mendez

California Court of Appeals, Fifth District
Jun 25, 2024
No. F087342 (Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 25, 2024)
Case details for

People v. Mendez

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SCOTT ALLEN MENDEZ, Defendant and…

Court:California Court of Appeals, Fifth District

Date published: Jun 25, 2024

Citations

No. F087342 (Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 25, 2024)