People v. Sanders CA4/1

California Court of Appeal · D064749 · 2015-03-24 · Unpublished

Proceeding: appeal from a judgment
Trial court: Superior Court of San Diego County · No. SCD222861
Trial judge: Robert F. O'Neill
Outcome: affirmed — Affirmed.
Area: criminal
Panel: McINTYRE (author), Gilbert Nares, Cynthia Aaron

Analysis

A model's reading — qwen3.8-27b, prompt v1, 2026-10-13T06:20Z · confidence high

The trial court affirmed a negotiated guilty plea and 25-year sentence in a separate case, which included a waiver of the right to appeal the instant robbery case. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment, finding the waiver of appellate rights was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, thereby precluding review of the defendant's specific arguments.

Ruling reviewed	Standard	The court	The model
Waiver of right to appeal “The waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Sanders is thus precluded from raising the above issue on appeal.”	unclear	correct	agree with court agree with court

Authorities

relied: People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 — Appointed counsel must conduct an independent review of the record for error when no arguable issues are presented.
relied: Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 — Appointed counsel must file a brief identifying any possible, but not arguable, issues for the court to review.

The appellate opinion: sound — The court correctly applied the Wende/Anders framework to review the record for error. It properly determined that the valid waiver of appellate rights in the related plea agreement precluded the defendant from raising the specific issue regarding jury selection.

How this analysis was made · dispute it

unusual disposition

A model's reading — claude-fable-5-1, prompt v1, 2026-10-13T04:31Z · confidence low

After a jury convicted Sanders of robbery with knife use and assault with a deadly weapon, both with gang enhancements, he entered a negotiated plea in a related case that provided for a stipulated 25-year sentence covering this and other cases and waived his right to appeal, and the trial court sentenced him to 25 years. On appeal, appointed counsel filed a Wende brief, Sanders filed a supplemental brief challenging the trial court's reference to the Hells Angels as a gang during jury selection, and the Court of Appeal held the appellate waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary, found no arguable issue on independent review, and affirmed.

Ruling reviewed	Standard	The court	The model
Validity of Sanders's waiver of the right to appeal in the instant case, entered as part of the June 2013 negotiated plea in case No. SCD235740 “The waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Sanders is thus precluded from raising the above issue on appeal.”	unclear	correct	unsure The court took judicial notice of the record in the companion appeal and concluded the waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary, but the opinion states no facts about the plea colloquy or written waiver form and cites no authority (such as People v. Panizzon) on the scope and enforceability of appellate waivers. The result is plausible for a stipulated-sentence plea bargain covering multiple cases, but the opinion's conclusory treatment does not permit independent verification.
Trial court's reference to the Hells Angels as a gang during jury selection (raised in Sanders's supplemental brief) “He has done so and raises contentions regarding the court's reference to the Hells Angels as a gang during jury selection.”	unclear	not reached	unsure The court did not reach the merits because the issue predated the plea agreement in which Sanders waived his right to appeal in this case. If the waiver is valid and broad enough to cover pre-plea trial error, declining to reach the issue is proper; the opinion, however, does not describe the waiver's terms, so the scope question is unaddressed.
Judgment of conviction and 25-year sentence, reviewed independently under Wende/Anders “A review of the record pursuant to Wende and Anders, including the possible issue listed pursuant to Anders, has disclosed no reasonably arguable appellate issue.”	de novo	correct	agree with court Independent record review under Wende is the required procedure when appointed counsel finds no arguable issues, and the court states it performed that review and considered the Anders issue counsel identified. Nothing in the recited facts suggests an arguable issue was overlooked, though the opinion's brevity limits verification.

Authorities

relied: People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 — When appointed appellate counsel finds no arguable issues, the Court of Appeal must independently review the entire record for error.
relied: Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 — Appointed counsel who finds no meritorious issues may file a brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal, and the court must then review the record.
missed: People v. Panizzon (1996) 13 Cal.4th 68 — A defendant's negotiated waiver of the right to appeal is enforceable if knowing, intelligent and voluntary, and its scope is determined by the terms of the waiver; sets the framework for assessing whether a particular issue falls within an appellate waiver.

The appellate opinion: sound with gaps — The court followed the required Wende/Anders procedure, addressed the defendant's supplemental contention in writing, and reached a defensible result by enforcing a negotiated appellate waiver tied to a stipulated 25-year sentence. It did not, however, cite any authority or recite any record facts supporting its one-sentence conclusion that the waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary, or explain why the waiver's scope covered pre-plea trial-court conduct in this separately tried case.

How this analysis was made · dispute it

record incomplete

Opinion

Filed 3/24/15 P. v. Sanders CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D064749

Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD222861)

STEPHEN CHARLES SANDERS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Robert F.

O'Neill, Judge. Affirmed.

Russell S. Babcock, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

In July 2012, a jury found Stephen Charles Sanders guilty of robbery with personal use of a knife (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 12022, subd. (b)(1); count 1; all further statutory references are to the Penal Code) and assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a); count 2; both counts with gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) enhancements. At the People's request, the court struck one count out-on-bail enhancement as to each count (§ 12022.1, subd. (b)) and in August, the court found true the remaining two bail enhancements as to each count. In June 2013, Sanders entered a negotiated guilty plea in case No. SCD235740 (Court of Appeal No. D064743); that plea bargain provided, as to that case, the instant case and three other cases, for a stipulated 25-year sentence and waiver of the right to appeal. In September, the court sentenced Sanders to 25 years in prison, including, in the instant case, on count 1, one year (one third the middle term)

with three years four months (one third of the term) for the gang enhancement; on count 2, stayed (§ 654) terms for assault with the gang enhancement. The court struck the punishment on the remaining bail enhancements and the knife enhancement. Sanders appeals. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Sanders was president of a Hells Angels chapter. Nicholas Stone was a member of Hell's Twentyone, whose members associated with the Hells Angels. On September 14, 2009, Sanders was driving his truck on the freeway. Stone, riding a motorcycle, was on his way home after a cancer treatment. The two got into an argument. Sanders waved at Stone to get him to pull over. They pulled into a parking lot to settle their argument.

Sanders yelled at Stone to take off his leather jacket. The two began to fight. Stone fell to the ground, his face bleeding. Sanders grabbed Stone by the hair, held a knife to Stone's throat and threatened to kill him unless Stone gave Sanders his jacket. Sanders took Stone's jacket and walked back to the truck. A bystander yelled that someone had a 2 knife, alerting a nearby police officer. The officer saw Sanders walking toward his truck and Stone sitting on a curb about 10 feet from Sanders. Stone had a laceration on his nose and blood all over his face. The officer yelled at Sanders to get his attention.

Sanders looked back at the officer, then began running toward the driver's door of his truck. The officer ordered Sanders to stop and pointed his gun at Sanders. Sanders got in his truck, started it and began backing up as the officer continued to yell at Sanders to stop. A witness stood behind the truck to block Sanders. Sanders eventually stopped and obeyed the officer's orders to get out and sit on the curb. Other officers arrived. Sanders gave them permission to search his truck. The officers found Stone's knife on the passenger seat and Stone's jacket in the truck bed.

DISCUSSION

Appointed appellate counsel has filed a brief summarizing the facts and proceedings below. Counsel presents no argument for reversal, but asks this court to review the record for error as mandated by People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende). Pursuant to Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 (Anders), counsel lists, as a possible, but not arguable, issue, whether the waiver of appellate rights was knowing, intelligent and voluntary.

We granted Sanders permission to file a brief on his own behalf. He has done so and raises contentions regarding the court's reference to the Hells Angels as a gang during jury selection. This occurred before Sanders's June 2013 plea agreement in case No. SCD235740, in which he waived his right to appeal in the instant case. (We grant Sanders's request for judicial notice of the record in Court of Appeal No. D064743.) The 3 waiver was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. Sanders is thus precluded from raising the above issue on appeal.

A review of the record pursuant to Wende and Anders, including the possible issue listed pursuant to Anders, has disclosed no reasonably arguable appellate issue. Sanders has been competently represented by counsel on this appeal.

DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed.

MCINTYRE, J.

WE CONCUR:

NARES, Acting P. J.

AARON, J.

Cites, in this corpus

People v. Wende Crim. 20851 · 1979-10-12