People v. Ward CA1/1

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant Shelton Ward of residential burglary. The prosecution theory was that defendant helped Darrian Shafer break into a house through a downstairs window facing the backyard while the homeowner was upstairs, looking down on the intruders. Defendant did not testify at trial, but Shafer’s testimony suggested defendant did not share his burglarious intent, or help him commit the burglary. Instead, defendant tried to dissuade him. On appeal defendant contends the court erroneously excluded Shafer’s testimony regarding statements defendant made to him expressing his misgivings about the burglary and erroneously admitted a prior felony juvenile adjudication to impeach defendant’s nonverbal assertive conduct of tugging at Shafer’s shirt. He also asserts the trial court misunderstood the scope of its discretion in using the statutory formula to assess the mandatory restitution fine. We affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Defendant was charged by information with a residential burglary in which a nonparticipant was present, a violent felony. (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460, subd. (a), 667.5, subd. (c)(21).)1 The information also alleged defendant had a prior…