People v. Gonzalez CA5

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Carmelo Gonzalez was arrested after a late-night confrontation with a stranded motorist led to a standoff with sheriff’s deputies. Defendant was charged with making criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422, subd. (a); count 1),1 being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1); count 2), brandishing a firearm (§ 417, subd. (a)(2); count 3), and resisting a peace officer (§ 148, subd. (a)(1); count 4). Defendant was convicted by jury of firearm possession and resisting a peace officer, but he was acquitted of making criminal threats and brandishing a firearm. After defendant declined probation during the sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed the middle term of two years for firearm possession and a concurrent term of 365 days in jail for resisting arrest. On appeal, defendant claims his conviction for resisting a peace officer is not supported by substantial evidence that he resisted any commands he understood, and his later refusal to open the door to deputies when commanded in Spanish is not sufficient to support the conviction. Alternatively, he claims that in light of the evidence of multiple acts and the prosecutor’s failure to make an…