People v. Statler CA1/2

BACKGROUND

In March 2014, the Sonoma County District Attorney filed an amended information charging defendant with kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a); count 1),1 carjacking (§ 215, subd. (a); count 2), false imprisonment (§ 236; count 3), robbery (§ 211; count 4), grand theft (§ 487, subd. (c); count 5), unlawfully driving and taking a vehicle (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a); count 6), and making criminal threats (§ 422; count 7). The district attorney also alleged as to some or all of the counts that defendant had a prior serious or violent felony conviction, had prior serious and violent felony convictions, and had served a prior prison term, making him eligible for certain sentence enhancements. A jury trial began later that same month. I. Sheri Reese’s Testimony The prosecution’s main witness was Sheri Reese. She testified that over about eight hours in the afternoon and evening of December 4, 2012, defendant and two other men forcibly took her and her car to several different locations while one or the other of them threatened to rape and otherwise harm her and/or her elderly housemate, sought and eventually took about two pounds of marijuana from her home and demanded…