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People v. French4/21/2003
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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 and appellant, Allen Rendell French, appeals from the judgment entered following his conviction, by jury trial, for three counts of vehicular manslaughter (Pen. Code, § 192, subd. (c)(1)). Sentenced to a state prison term of six years eight months, French contends there was trial and sentencing error.
The judgment is affirmed.
BACKGROUND
Viewed in accordance with the usual rule of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206), the evidence established the following.
1. Prosecution evidence.
Kevin Bender testified he was driving south on Van Ness Boulevard in the early evening of April 8, 2001. He stopped for a red light at the intersection of Van Ness and Century Boulevard. When the light turned green, Bender looked to his left to make sure the way was clear. He saw a white car driving westbound on Century. The white car went through the red light, traveling about 100 m.p.h. The speed limit on this portion of Century was 40 m.p.h. A dark-colored Lexus and at least one other car followed the white car through the red light. About three seconds later, Bender heard a loud explosion.
Meanwhile, Angela Humphrey was driving a Chrysler New Yorker eastbound on Century. Stephen Farren was also driving a Pontiac eastbound on Century; he was on Humphrey's left. Farren's wife and their daughter, Aisling, were in the Pontiac. As Humphrey approached Second Avenue, the street just west of Van Ness, she saw a car coming very fast westbound on Century. Humphrey stopped, thinking the car was going to make a left turn. The approaching car hit Farren's Pontiac and then Humphrey's Chrysler. Aisling, who had been sitting in the back of the Pontiac, testified she heard tires screeching and saw a "white car coming across the road and hitting into ours." The Pontiac spun around and came to a stop. Aisling's parents were unconscious in the front seat. As she was trying to get out of her seat belt, a man came over and looked into the back window. He asked Aisling if she were all right and he said an ambulance was coming. When she looked away for a second, the man disappeared. Aisling later identified this man as defendant French.
Emergency medical technician Ryan Smith and his partner were the first emergency personnel to arrive at the scene. Smith testified he saw one injured man face down in the street, and another man in the back seat of a white Monte Carlo. The man in the street was French's brother, Cory, and the man inside the Monte Carlo was Samuel Loving. Cory, Loving and Stephen Farren all died from the injuries they sustained in the collision.
After quickly checking on Cory and Loving, Smith was going over to check on the Pontiac when a man approached him. The man was very excited and Smith thought he might have information about other victims. Smith asked if he had seen the accident, and the man said he had. Smith asked about other victims, but he couldn't understand the man's garbled response. When Smith repeated his question, the man said the driver had taken off on foot and he pointed north on Second.
Between 8:00 and 8:15 p.m. that same evening, French called his mother, Mary. He was crying and he kept saying, "My mind is leaving me." Finally, he told her there had been an accident. Mary testified she asked where Cory was an
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