People v. Simmons CA5

FACTS

Defendant signed a change of plea form which stated the factual basis for his plea was pursuant to People v. West (1970) 3 Cal.3d 595. A West plea is “a plea of nolo contendere, not admitting a factual basis for the plea.” (In re Alvernaz (1992) 2 Cal.4th 924, 932.) According to defendant’s probation report, defendant and CV3 had been in a dating relationship for about four months. During the early morning hours of October 10, 2020, defendant violently attacked CV when she declined to have intercourse with him. He threw her out of bed by her hair, struck her on her right and left hips leaving a visible injury, struck her multiple times on the head, threatened to kill her, tried to prevent her from leaving the home, threw a kitchen knife at her, covered her mouth with a pillow, broke her phone, took her wallet and keys that belonged to CV’s mother’s car, and drove away in her mother’s car. CV was granted an emergency protective order against defendant and had no further contact with him. On November 6, 2020, defendant arrived unannounced at CV’s home, where she was with her eight-year-old daughter, angry that she had reported the previous incident to police and had obtained…