People v. Brown CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant Steven Brown of corporal injury on a spouse (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)), and found true an allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 12022.7, subd. (e)).1 The trial court found that defendant had suffered a prior strike (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)) and a prior serious felony conviction (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The trial court sentenced defendant to a total of 14 years in state prison, consisting of a three-year midterm, doubled to six years based on the prior strike finding, plus five years for the prior serious felony conviction, plus three years for the great bodily injury enhancement. On appeal, defendant contends that the conviction must be reversed because the trial court failed to instruct the jury, sua sponte, with a jury instruction regarding the limited relevance of expert testimony regarding battered spouse syndrome, also referred to as intimate partner battering. We conclude that regardless of whether the trial court had a sua sponte duty to give the instruction, the omission of the instruction was harmless error because the evidence of defendant’s guilt, independent of the…