People v. Mackbee CA2/2

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

In early 2011, Philip Williamson (Williamson) was in the business of importing a high-grade marijuana strain called “sour diesel” from northern California and reselling it to marijuana dispensaries in West Los Angeles. He ran the business out of his Westside apartment, and kept a gun. Just before March 24, 2011, Williamson had stowed in his apartment approximately

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered section 1172.6 (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10). For simplicity’s sake, we will refer to the section by its new numbering only.

2 pounds of the sour diesel marijuana and somewhere between $100,000 and $375,000 or “even more than that” in cash. Marcel Mackabee (Marcel)2 knew Williamson and would sometimes smoke marijuana with him. Marcel decided to rob Williamson. Marcel enlisted the aid of defendant, his cousin; defendant recruited Kenneth Ray Johnson, whom defendant referred to as his “right-hand man.” Johnson and his girlfriend lived in defendant’s garage. Defendant later said they had all agreed to “set . . . up” Williamson to…