People v. Perkins

BAKER, J.

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County No. GA099146, Michael D. Carter, Judge. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

Brett Harding Duxbury, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Brandon Perkins.

Marilee Marshall, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Laquan Donte Parker.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Stacy Shwartz and Eric J. Kohm, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BAKER, J.

A trial jury found defendants and appellants Brandon Perkins (defendant Perkins) and Laquan Parker (defendant Parker) guilty of murdering Phillip Niles (Niles) and related offenses. On appeal from the judgment of conviction, defendant Parker argues (1) there was insufficient evidence to establish Niles's killing was murder because defendant Parker acted in self-defense or in the heat of passion, and (2) the court erred by not instructing the jury on how provocation may influence its determination of the degree of murder. Defendant Perkins advances a considerably greater number of contentions: (1) the trial court should have granted his motion for new trial arguing insufficient evidence supports his murder conviction on an aiding and abetting theory, (2) the court erred by not instructing the jury on all elements of alleged firearm enhancements, (3) insufficient evidence supports his conviction for being an accessory after the fact, (4) his convictions for murder and accessory after the fact cannot both stand, (5) his felon in possession of a firearm conviction should be vacated because no evidence established he sustained a prior felony conviction, and (6) fines and fees stricken by the court at sentencing but nevertheless included in his abstract of judgment must be deleted. The last two of these arguments have merit, but we will otherwise affirm.

I. BACKGROUND