People v. Gonzales CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2023, appellant and defendant Alex Anthony Gonzales, Jr. (appellant) pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree robbery and one count of felon in possession of a firearm, and admitted firearm enhancements and prior conviction allegations. He was sentenced to the second strike sentence of 22 years eight months. In this appeal from the judgment, appellate counsel filed a brief that summarized the facts with citations to the record, raised no issues, and asked this court to independently review the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) Appellant filed three letter briefs raising issues about the plea agreement and the trial court’s imposition of sentence. As will be explained, the court extensively addressed and ruled upon every issue that appellant now raises in this appeal, and did not abuse its discretion when it imposed sentence. We affirm.

FACTS1

Around 8:00 p.m. on September 5, 2020, police officers responded to a T-Mobile store regarding an armed robbery. Andrea Ventura-Ibarra, a store employee, reported she had been closing the store for the evening when a man rushed in, brandished a gun, and said: “ ‘10 seconds to get all the iPhones you can.’…