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People v. Valadez

California Court of Appeals, Fifth District
Apr 29, 2009
No. F055514 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2009)

Opinion

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County No. BF122138A, Arthur E. Wallace, Judge.

Michael E. Mitchell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.


OPINION

THE COURT

Before Vartabedian, Acting P.J., Wiseman, J., and Kane, J.

On April 23, 2008, a jury convicted appellant Aaron Lee Valadez of felony receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. (a)). On that same day, in a separate proceeding, the court found true an allegation that appellant had served a prison term for a prior felony conviction (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)). On June 16, the court imposed a three-year prison term, consisting of the two-year midterm on the substantive offense and one year on the enhancement.

All references to dates of events are to dates in 2008.

Appellant’s appointed appellate counsel has filed an opening brief which summarizes the pertinent facts, with citations to the record, raises no issues, and asks that this court independently review the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) Appellant has not responded to this court’s invitation to submit additional briefing.

FACTS

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 28, Kayla P. (Kayla), age 16, was at a bus stop, waiting for a bus, when a group of four persons--appellant, another male and two females--arrived at the bus stop. Kayla was holding her cell phone in her hand when appellant approached her and asked if he could borrow the phone. Kayla said he could not. Appellant “looked back” and then asked again if he could use the phone. Kayla again refused, at which point appellant walked back and rejoined his three companions.

Except as otherwise indicated, our factual summary is taken from Kayla’s testimony.

Approximately five minutes later, while Kayla was speaking on her phone, one of the girls in the group approached and “called [Kayla] a profanity name.” Kayla “said [the name] back to her,” and the girl grabbed Kayla’s hair, pulled her to the ground and punched her in the mouth. The other girl in the group approached, and Kayla “got kicked once in the hip.” The two attackers then walked off.

Kayla, was still on the ground, trying to call 911, when, approximately one minute later, the two girls approached again. Kayla “once again... got kicked”; one girl took Kayla’s purse; the other girl took her cell phone; and then the two girls and their two male companions “were gone.”

The People presented police testimony of the following. At approximately 11:05 a.m. on January 28, two Bakersfield police officers detained appellant and another male, Kevin E., less than one mile from the spot where Kayla was attacked. One of the officers found Kayla’s cell phone in appellant’s right back pocket. Initially, when asked by the officer where he got the phone, appellant said he found it in a nearby church. However, when asked again “[h]e said he got it from Kevin.” Appellant subsequently told the officer “he was there when Kevin told the two girls to beat the other girl up.”

DISCUSSION

Following independent review of the record, we have concluded that no reasonably arguable legal or factual issues exist.

The judgment is affirmed.


Summaries of

People v. Valadez

California Court of Appeals, Fifth District
Apr 29, 2009
No. F055514 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2009)
Case details for

People v. Valadez

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. AARON LEE VALADEZ, Defendant and…

Court:California Court of Appeals, Fifth District

Date published: Apr 29, 2009

Citations

No. F055514 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 29, 2009)