People v. Balogh CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant James Levi Balogh was convicted of one count of second

degree robbery (Pen. Code,1 § 211, subd. (a)) as the result of an incident in which he

allegedly pushed a retail store manager while attempting to exit the store without paying

for merchandise. On appeal, defendant contends the judgment must be reversed because:

(1) the trial court failed to properly respond to a jury question regarding the type of force

necessary to constitute robbery; (2) the trial court failed to properly respond to a jury

question regarding when force must be exerted in the course of a robbery; (3) the trial

court erroneously admitted “speculative and irrelevant” testimony by the store manager;

(4) the trial court erroneously admitted evidence related to prior uncharged misconduct

by defendant; (5) the trial court erroneously sustained an objection to a statement made

by defense counsel during closing argument; and (6) the cumulative impact of these

errors warrants reversal even if any single error was not sufficiently prejudicial. We

conclude that reversal is not warranted on any of these grounds and affirm the judgment.

II. BACKGROUND3

In August…