People v. Cavness CA1/2

BACKGROUND

Procedural History In January 2010, the San Francisco District Attorney charged defendant in an information with four criminal counts related to events that occurred on April 2, 2009.

1 Defendant was alleged to have assaulted George Michael Taylor with a deadly weapon, an iron bar (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)),1 and to have personally inflicted great bodily injury (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)) in doing so (count one); to have committed the involuntary manslaughter (§ 192, subd. (b)) of his brother Edward Cavness (Edward),2 as the proximate result of committing assault with a force likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) (count two); to have assaulted Edward with force likely to cause great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) (count three); and to have been in possession of a controlled substance, cocaine base (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd. (a)) (count four). The sentence enhancement allegations included that defendant had two prior “strike” convictions. This required that he be sentenced to an indeterminate life term under the “Three Strikes Law.”3 (§ 667.) Defendant pled not guilty to all allegations and a jury trial followed. The jury found him…