Brown
People v. Brown
Opinion
Opinion
Anderson, J.
Following a jury trial, Yvonne Lindo Brown (hereafter appellant) was found guilty of robbery in violation of Penal Code section 211 and sentenced to state prison for the midterm of three years.
On appeal appellant asserts: (1) the trial court erred in ruling that a prior robbery conviction (§ 211) was admissible for impeachment purposes; and (2) she was denied her constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.
I. The Facts
On January 13, 1983, at approximately 1:50 p.m., a young black woman robbed the South Airport Boulevard branch of Wells Fargo Bank. The robber waited in line for several minutes and then walked up to the merchant teller window where Ms. Chandra Gaston was working. She placed a large bag on the counter and ordered Ms. Gaston to “Fill it up. No funny stuff. Bottom drawer only. I’ll kill you.”
Ms. Gaston did as she was told and placed approximately $8,000 from the bottom drawer into the bag. She testified that she placed “bait money” in the bag but it failed to activate, i.e., explode red dye, when the robber exited the bank and she forgot to pull the money clip which operates the bank’s cameras in the event of a robbery.