The People v. Lu CA1/2

I. INTRODUCTION

Alfredo Bustamante, a U.S. Postal Service Supervisor in San Francisco, was badly injured near his home in Albany, Alameda County, when hit by a pickup truck being driven by appellant, one of the postal workers Bustamante had formerly supervised. As a consequence of that event, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office charged appellant with two counts, i.e., willful and premeditated attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a); 664, subd. (a))1 and assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)). Both counts included an allegation that appellant intended to inflict great bodily injury. (§§ 1203.075; 12022.7, subd. (a).) After a several-week trial, the jury found appellant not guilty of the first count, but guilty of the second. It was unable to reach a verdict on the great bodily injury allegation. Appellant appeals, claiming that the trial court erred in failing to give the jury a unanimity instruction as to which act of appellant constituted the assault with a deadly weapon. We reject appellant’s argument and affirm his conviction.

1 All subsequent statutory references are to the Penal Code.

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II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellant was, as…