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People v. Brown9/3/2004
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
Defendant Natalee F. Brown appeals from her conviction of first degree murder, kidnapping for a carjacking, carjacking, grand theft, and kidnapping, asserting that the court erred in failing to give certain jury instructions sua sponte. We affirm.
Background
On the evening of July 18, 1998, Kenneth Ishida, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, threw a housewarming party. Around 3:00 the following morning, Ishida's girlfriend saw him walk down a stairwell in his building. The following morning, Ishida's roommates noticed he was not in the apartment and that his car was missing from its parking space. A day or two later, when Ishida had not reappeared, his friends reported to the police that he was missing.
Ishida's body was found in an alley in Vallejo at 5:30 a.m. on July 19, 1998. He had been shot three times in the head, and did not have a wallet, money or identification. A surveillance tape of a toll booth on the Carquinez Bridge showed Ishida's car being driven by a woman resembling Brown at 4:47 a.m. on July 19, 1998. ATM records show that Ishida's bank card was used to withdraw $300 at 4:00 a.m. that day at an ATM in Oakland, and surveillance tapes show two men at the ATM machine. Two more ATM withdrawals were made in the two days following Ishida's murder.
On July 19, Brown, her boyfriend Dante Love, Love's sister Chiquila, and Chiquila's friend Gloria Sharpe went to a mall where Love bought gifts for the women. Store receipts revealed that on July 19 and 20 over $2,000 in merchandise was purchased using Ishida's credit cards.
On the morning of July 22, the police located Ishida's car in front of Love's house. They obtained a warrant and searched the house, where they found in the trash several of Ishida's identification cards and store receipts for purchases made using Ishida's credit cards. Three of Ishida's credit cards, a credit card receipt in Ishida's name, and an ATM receipt from 4:01 a.m. on July 19 were found in the drawer of the nightstand in the master bedroom. The police arrested Brown for possession of stolen property and transported her to the police station.
Brown testified at trial as follows. On the evening before Ishida's murder, she and her boyfriend Dante Love met a man named Glenn Green and the three spent the evening at a movie and walking around Berkeley. While they walked, Love and Green talked and Brown walked behind them, where she could not hear what they were saying. Eventually the three walked into a garage together, but Green then left. Ishida was in the garage. Love approached Ishida, pointed a gun at him, and told Ishida to "Give me your keys." After Love repeated the order, Ishida moved toward the car, and Love ordered him to open the trunk, which Ishida did. Love then ordered Ishida to give the car keys to Brown. Ishida held the keys out and Brown took them. She testified that she took the keys because "Dante was pointing the gun at me." Ishida then got into the trunk of the car and Love closed the trunk. Dante told Brown to get in the car, and she got into the driver's seat. Brown backed the car out of the garage and drove a short distance, where she and Love picked up Green. Love told Green to drive, and Brown got in the back seat.
As they were driving, the police drove up beside the car and Green pulled over. He
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