Opinion
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
Alameda County Super. Ct. No. 155245
NEEDHAM, J.
Ray Porter (Porter) appeals from a prison sentence imposed pursuant to a plea agreement. His court-appointed counsel has filed a brief seeking our independent review of the record, pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (see also Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738), in order to determine whether there is any arguable issue on appeal. We find no arguable issue and affirm.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
An amended information charged Porter with kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)), false imprisonment by violence (§ 236; see § 237, subd. (a)), and corporal injury to a (former) cohabitant (§ 273.5, subd. (a)). The information also alleged eight prior convictions. Porter’s third prior conviction for second-degree robbery (§ 211) was alleged to be a strike prior (§ 1107, subd. (c)(1); 667, subd. (e)(1)). His seventh prior conviction for aggravated assault (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) was noticed as the basis for a one-year enhancement pursuant to section 667.5, subdivision (b), for having served a prior prison term.
Unless otherwise indicated, all statutory references are to the Penal Code.
The matter proceeded to a jury trial.
A. Evidence at Trial
Victim Janice Diggs testified that she and Porter had been involved in an intimate and violent relationship “off and on” for over 20 years, including a period in which they lived together.
On March 21, 2007, Diggs and Porter were having lunch at a Sizzler restaurant. After awhile, Porter became angry. Diggs became so frightened that she started shaking. Porter told her to sit next to him, and she complied. He then put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close so that her face was about four inches away from his, called her a bitch, and said other things in anger. When he let her go, Diggs got up from the table and went to the salad bar.
About 30 seconds later, Diggs saw Porter in an altercation with another restaurant patron. A restaurant employee called 911. Porter struck the restaurant patron in her face, which the restaurant employee reported to the 911 operator as it happened.
Porter then turned his attention back to Diggs. She and other restaurant patrons and employees ran behind the cashier’s counter. Porter grabbed Diggs’ arm and pulled her over the counter; she smashed into the cash register and fell to the ground on her back, sustaining injuries. Diggs screamed for help.
Porter pulled Diggs off the floor by her arm. With a firm grip on her arm -- from which she could not have broken free even if she tried -- Porter took Diggs out of the restaurant, around the outside of the restaurant, and to her car, covering a distance of about 50-60 feet or more over the course of a minute or two. Diggs felt she had no choice but to go with him. Porter then told Diggs to open the car door and get in. She complied. At his instruction, she moved over to the other seat. Porter started Diggs’ car and attempted to drive away, but he was stopped by the police before he could leave the parking lot.
Diggs’ “testimony at trial was not inconsistent in any significant manner from her testimony at the preliminary hearing” and was “corroborated at trial by the testimony of three restaurant patrons and an employee.” In fact, other witnesses offered a more violent depiction of the events.
During the trial and over defense objection, the court permitted the prosecution to play an audio recording of the 911 call during the testimony of three witnesses, who identified their voices on the tape, and during closing argument. Without objection, the prosecution also presented testimony by an expert witness in the field of domestic violence.
B. Jury Verdict and Sentence
The jury convicted Porter on all counts. At a bifurcated trial, the court found the third and seventh prior convictions to be true.
The court sentenced Porter to an aggregate term of 13 years, comprised of: five years for kidnapping, doubled due to the prior strike; a consecutive one-year term for corporal injury, doubled due to the prior strike; and a consecutive one-year term for the prior prison term, pursuant to section 667.5, subdivision (b). The court found that the kidnapping and corporal injury offenses were distinct and separate. Porter was credited with 212 days for time served.
This appeal followed.
II. DISCUSSION
Porter’s appellate counsel represented in the opening brief in this appeal that she wrote Porter at his last known address and advised him of his opportunity to file a supplementary brief within 30 days and of his right to request the court to relieve appellate counsel from representation if he so desired. This court has not received such a request or supplemental written argument from appellant.
We find no arguable issue on appeal. There are no legal issues that require further briefing.
III. DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed.
We concur. JONES, P. J., SIMONS, J.