People v. Njoku

95 Cal.App.5th 27

313 Cal.Rptr.3d 204

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Monica NJOKU, Defendant and Appellant.

C093672

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Filed August 31, 2023

Certified for Partial Publication.^*

Dale Dombkowski, San Francisco, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Matthew Rodriguez, Acting Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen, Christopher J. Rench and Max Feinstat, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

ROBIE, J.

Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied defendant Monica Njoku's petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code ¹ section 1172.6.² On appeal, defendant argues insufficient evidence supports the trial court's finding she aided and abetted implied malice murder. In making this argument, defendant contends we should apply the independent review standard when examining the record because neither she nor the prosecution introduced additional evidence at the evidentiary hearing. Defendant also argues any factual disputes should be resolved in her favor because the prosecution did not introduce live testimony at the evidentiary hearing to resolve the factual disputes as it was required to do pursuant to the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

In the published portion of this opinion, we reject defendant's contentions that we should independently review the evidence and that the prosecution was required to introduce live testimony. In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we reject defendant's claim that insufficient evidence supports the trial court's finding of implied malice. Accordingly, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At defendant's evidentiary hearing, the parties relied on only the trial court transcript and did not introduce any additional evidence. We rely on the facts as related in defendant's direct appeal and supplement them with additional testimony from the trial transcript when appropriate. ( People v. Njoku (Nov. 19, 2018, C082166, 2018 WL 6039321) [nonpub. opn.] ( Njoku ).)

IProsecution's Case

"[Defendant] owned a house in Sacramento. She lived elsewhere, renting rooms in the house to short term tenants, primarily single mothers with children. [Defendant] did not require credit or background checks, and allowed tenants to pay rent and deposits on a flexible schedule and in installments, as they were able. [Defendant] did not observe the usual formalities associated with the landlord/tenant relationship. Some tenants were not required to sign lease agreements. Others signed lease agreements, but were not given copies of those documents. In keeping with her informal approach to landlord/tenant matters, [defendant] also made frequent unannounced visits to the house, using her own key to enter without knocking.

"Although [defendant] generally catered to single mothers, she also rented a room to [Edward W., the victim and] a single father with a two-year-old son. Other tenants in the house during the relevant period included Jasmine M[.], a single mother with an eleven-month-old daughter, and Amanda F[.], a single mother with a five-or six-year-old son. At the time of the events detailed below, [Edward] had been living in the house for two weeks, [Jasmine] for three weeks, and [Amanda] for three months. All had been either homeless or at risk of homelessness prior to taking rooms in [defendant]’s house.

"[Defendant] and [Jasmine] had a disagreement several days before the [murder]. On Friday, November 14, 2014, [defendant] appeared at the house unannounced and learned that [Jasmine] had violated house rules by allowing her sister to spend the night. She confronted [Jasmine], saying, ‘You need to get the F out of my house, and I don't care where you go, but you need to go now.’ [Jasmine] and her daughter left the house, but returned the following night.

"[Defendant] came back to the house on Sunday, November 16, 2014. [Defendant] confronted [Jasmine] again, saying, ‘What are you still doing here?’ ‘You need to leave.’ [Jasmine] responded that she could not ‘just leave,’ adding that she had a right to three days’ notice prior to being evicted. [Defendant] denied that she was under any obligation to give notice, saying, ‘you need to get the hell out of my house’ and ‘this is my house, I don't have to give you a warning about how long you have to be out of here.’

"[Edward], who was standing nearby, interjected. [Edward] agreed that [Jasmine] was entitled to notice. He added that he did not want to continue living in a house in which the parent of a small child could get kicked out without notice. He told [defendant] to stop yelling at [Jasmine] and asked that she refund money he had already paid in rent. [Defendant] angrily responded, ‘You can leave, I don't care. And you're not getting your money back.’

"The argument continued in this fashion for some time, with [defendant] and [Edward] yelling back and forth at one another.

Eventually, [Edward] called his sister and asked her to pick him and his son up. [Defendant] responded, ‘If you are calling your sister I'm calling my family too.’ [Defendant] then phoned someone. [Amanda] heard [defendant] tell the person on the other end of the line that she had a tenant who did not want to get out of her house, and she needed help. [Jasmine] heard [defendant] say, ‘My tenants are trippin[‘.] Come. You need to get over here. I'm going to send you the address.’ [Defendant] then turned to [Jasmine], saying ‘You're about to go. You're about to leave.’

"[Defendant's brother Monterio Roberts and his wife T.S.] knocked on the door a short time later.... [Defendant] answered the door and showed Roberts and [T.S.] to a common area (designated by the parties as ‘the northeast living room’), which was then occupied by [Edward] and [Jasmine]. A discussion ensued.

"The discussion began civilly enough, with [T.S.] telling [Edward] and [Jasmine] that she was celebrating a birthday that day. The mood changed, however, when Roberts began commenting on [Edward]’s financial circumstances. According to [Jasmine], Roberts said to [Edward], ‘We wouldn't have this problem [referring to [Edward]’s dispute with [defendant]] if you was [sic ] man enough to have a house for your kid; you wouldn't have to be renting a room.’ As [Jasmine] would later testify, ‘the argument was getting very heated, it felt like it was going to be a fight any moment.’

"At some point, [Edward] called 911.^{[3 ]} ... On the recording, [Edward] can be heard explaining the situation with [defendant] to the 911 operator in a measured tone of voice as an unidentified woman yells in the background. Later, [Edward] can be heard interacting with an unidentified man, saying, in a louder tone, ‘Don't—no, no, no. First of all, don't come in my—if we gonna do that we can do that. Don't—don't—better believe I'm not scared.’ Later still, [Edward] can be heard saying, ‘Dude, I've done martial arts all my life. Best believe I'm not scared.’ [Edward] can also be heard saying, ‘Bro, don't come at me like that.’ During the trial, [Jasmine] recalled that Roberts was ‘talking smack’ and ‘running up on’ [Edward]. [Edward], for his part, was ‘upset’ but ‘standing still.’ Following a further discussion, which was repeatedly interrupted by people speaking loudly in the background, the 911 operator agreed to send someone to the house.

"A short time later, [defendant], Roberts and [T.S.] announced that they were going to the liquor store. As they were leaving, [defendant] said, ‘We're about to go to the store, and when we come back it's about to get real turnt up in here.’ During the trial, [Amanda] testified that she understood [defendant] to mean that it was going to get ‘crazy,’ and ‘not in the fun way.’

"[Edward] called 911 a second time after [defendant], Roberts and [T.S.] left. Believing the dispute to be over, [Edward] cancelled the earlier request for assistance, and then went outside and smoked a cigarette with [Jasmine]. [Edward]’s two-year-old son also went outside. [Jasmine]’s eleven-month-old daughter remained inside (in a common area designated by the parties as ‘the southeast living room’) eating a snack and watching television in her stroller.

"The calm was short lived. [Defendant], Roberts and [T.S.] returned to the house after approximately thirty minutes. [Edward] and [Jasmine] went back inside.

[Amanda] went to her room and closed the door. [Defendant] saw [Jasmine]’s daughter and said, ‘Why is the stroller on the carpet?’ [Defendant] began to push the stroller towards a sliding glass door leading outside. [Jasmine]’s daughter began to cry. [Jasmine] said, ‘Wait, get your hands off my daughter's stroller. You're not pushing my daughter outside.’ [Defendant] then reached down and ‘yanked’ [Jasmine]’s daughter, who was still strapped in, out of the stroller. [Jasmine] said, ‘What are you doing? Don't touch my daughter.’ [Edward] interjected, saying, ‘Don't touch her daughter. You're doing too much. Calm down.’ As [Jasmine] would later recall, everyone in the room started ‘yelling at each other’ and ‘getting into it.’ With tempers rising, [Edward] called 911 a third time.

"During the course of [Edward]’s third 911 call (the substance of which is described below), [Jasmine] (along with her daughter) and [Edward] moved from the southeast living room to the northeast living room. [Defendant], Roberts and [T.S.] soon followed. [Amanda] and her son remained in their room with the door closed. However, [Amanda] opened the door and peeked out several times during the course of the ensuing altercation.

"An audio recording of [Edward]’s third call to 911 was played for the jury. The recording begins with [Edward] telling the 911 operator, ‘We have an emergency here. The landlord has come back and they're trying to fight the girl and ... [¶] ... and trying to take...