People v. Pouncy CA1/3

Background Defendant was charged with the murder of Richard Sprague (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)), 1 with the special circumstance of robbery felony murder (§ 109.2, subd. (a)(17)), and with robbery (§ 211), committed within five years of a prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (b)) and while on parole(§ 1203.085, subd. (b)). A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder, but deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial and dismissal of the robbery and special circumstance charges. The court found the prior prison term

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted.

1 allegation true, and sentenced defendant to 25 years to life in prison on the murder conviction plus one year for the prior prison term. Defendant has timely appealed. There was evidence at trial of the following. Around 2:40 a.m., the morning of February 19, 2012, Lilia Puch2 was awakened by a disturbance outside her home on Julian Avenue (referred to as “Julian Alley”) in San Francisco. She heard a man outside “screaming for help,” “calling out for help for somebody to call 911” and yelling “My wallet.” After the screaming continued for a period that Puch estimated to be 10 minutes, she went to…