Monday, October 31, 2016

People v. Newman (Cal. Ct. App. - Aug. 18, 2016)

"On the evening of December 28, 2000, defendant called a Long Beach Pizza Hut restaurant and ordered a pizza. He became very angry, because he believed he had been placed on hold for 'too fucking long.'"

I hear you.  Hate it when that happens.  Maybe calm down a bit, but I understand the frustration.

"Five minutes after his order, he went to the restaurant and demanded his pizza. He yelled and cursed at the employees and stated he had been 'waiting [all] this time and [he was] hungry' and wanted his pizza immediately."

Okay.  Check that.  Definitely calm down.

"Although offered two free pizzas if he would calm down . . . ."

Wait a minute?!  I can get free pizzas that way?!  Two free pizzas?!  Apparently this is an awesome strategy.

". . . . defendant continued yelling before walking out, stating, 'You know[] what? I don’t need your fucking pizza.'"

No, dude!  Take the pizzas!  (And what's with the constant f-word?)

"As he walked out, Jose Alvarez Avalos, a uniformed delivery driver, was entering the restaurant. Defendant struck Alvarez in the jaw although Alvarez, who did not speak English, had not exchanged any words with him. Alvarez fell to the ground and briefly lost consciousness. Upon regaining consciousness, he saw defendant walking to a car and went to his own car to write down defendant’s license plate number. Defendant approached from behind, began to choke Alvarez, and demanded his money. He took about $50 from Alvarez’s pocket. Alvarez sustained a hairline fracture of the jaw and was in a great deal of pain. As a precautionary measure, an oral surgeon performed surgery to wire Alvarez’s jaw shut."

Oh, man.  You should have definitely taken the pizzas.  And/or calmed down.  Breaking the jaw of a random guy walking into the store was definitely a suboptimal alternative.

"The trial court found defendant had suffered five prior felony convictions under the Three Strikes law. . . . He was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life for his assault conviction, plus four 5-year prior serious felony enhancements."

Yeah.  Like I said.  Suboptimal decision making.  Maybe like those five other prior felony convictions.

Proposition 36 motion to recall the sentence denied.  Affirmed.

No pizzas in prison.  Should have taken the free ones.

P.S. - No free pizzas tonight either.  But candy galore.