People v. Page CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

David Marvel Page appeals from a judgment entered after he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a felon. At sentencing, the trial court denied Page’s motion to strike a prior strike conviction for armed robbery and imposed the upper term on his manslaughter count. Page contends the court abused its discretion in denying his motion and imposing the upper term sentence. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Page’s motion to strike, Page forfeited his challenges to the manslaughter sentence because he did not raise them before the trial court, and, in any event, his forfeited challenges fail on the merits. Thus, we affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Page’s Crimes

In June 2020, Page shot and killed Michael Smith.1 At the time, Page was on probation after a conviction for possession of cocaine base for sale in 2018. He was in his early 40s and living in a van in Los Angeles. Page grew up in the same area and joined a neighborhood Crip gang when he was 14 years old. In 1996, when he was 18 years old, Page committed a robbery by walking up to a car with a gun and threatening to kill…