PEOPLE v. BRYANTRespondent’s Focus Issues LetterCal.May 12, 2014_ KAMALA D. HARRIS SUPREME COURT COPY State of California Attorney General | DEPARTMENTOFJUSTICE 300 SOUTH SPRING STREET, SUITE 1702 LOS ANGELES, CA 90013 Public: (213) 897-2000 Telephone: (213) 897-2357 Facsimile: (213) 897-6496 E-Mail: DocketingLAAWT@doj.ca.gov May 8, 2014 SUPREME COURT The Honorable Frank A. McGuire Court Administrator and Clerk of the Supreme Court . Supreme Court of the State of California MAY 12 2014 350 McAllister Street San Francisco, CA 94102-4797 crank A. McGuire Clerk RE: People v. Stanley Bryant, Donald Smith and Leroy Wheeter Deputy California Supreme Court, Case No. $049596 Dear Mr. McGuire: The Court has requested a “focus”letter for the abovecase set for oral argument on May 28, 2014. As counsel for respondent,I intend to focus on the issues designated by appellants in their focus letters and thoseissues raised by the Court at oral argument. Based on telephone conversations that I have had with counsel for appellants, I believe appellants will be focusing on the followingissues: Appellant Stanley Bryant (1) the requirement that appellant Stanley Bryant wear a REACTbelt at trial. Appellant Donald Smith (1) all claimsrelating to thetrial court’s instructions on the law of accomplices and the denial of appellant Donald Smith’s request to reopen deliberations-- (a) whetherthe trial court properly denied the request toinstructtheje Jury that James Williams was an accomplice as a matter of law; (b) whether James Williams’s testimony was sufficiently corroborated; (c) whetherthetrial court properly instructed the jury on what constituted sufficient corroboration of accomplice testimony; (d) whetherthetrial court properly instructed the jury with CALIIC Nos. 3.00 and 3.10 [specifically, the “equally guilty” languagein those instructions]; (e) whetherthe trial court properly did not instruct the jury that Tannis Curry was an accomplice as a matter of law and properly did not exclude her DEATH PENALTY The Honorable Frank A. McGuire . Court Administrator and Clerk of the Supreme Court May 8, 2014 © | Page 2 from the applicability of CALJIC No. 2.11.5 [the instruction on unjoined ~ perpetrators of the same crime]; and (f) whetherthetrial court properly rejected appellant Donald Smith’s request to order the jury to reconsiderits guilty verdicts pursuant to Penal Code section 1161. (2) the denial of appellant Donald Smith’s motion to have his case severed from that of codefendant Jon Settle. Appellant Leroy Wheeler (1) the denial of appellant Leroy Wheeler’s motion to have his case severed from that of his codefendants; (2) the trial court permitting codefendant Jon Settle to testify on his own behalf, after he had rested his case; (3) whetherthe trial court properly denied the request to instruct the jury that James Williams was an accomplice as a matter of law; . (4) whether there wasprejudicial error from the admission into evidence of victim Andre Armstrong’s tape-recorded prison interview; and (5) the claim of cumulative error at the guilt phase of appellant Leroy Wheeler’s trial. . Finally, based on the numberof appellants and the numberofissues designated as focus issues by appellants, I request 45 minutes for oral argument. Sincerely, Viele 8. Wey VICTORIAB. WILSON Supervising Deputy Attorney General State Bar No. 167526 For KAMALA D. HARRIS Attorney General VBW:ir LA1997XS0006 61268006.doc DECLARATION OF SERVICE BY U.S. MAIL Case Name: People v. Stanley Bryant, Donald F. Smith, and Leroy Wheeler No.: $049596 I declare: I am employedin the Office of the Attorney General, which is the office of a memberofthe - California State Bar, at which member's direction this service is made. I am 18 years of age or older and not a party to this matter. I am familiar with thebusiness practice at the Office of the Attorney General for collection and processing of correspondence for mailing with the United States Postal Service. In accordance with that practice, correspondenceplacedin the internal mail collection system at the Office of the Attorney General is deposited with the United States Postal Service with postage thereon fully prepaid that same day in the ordinary course of business.. On May8, 2014,I served the attached FOCUS LETTERbyplacinga true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed envelope in the internal mail collection system atthe Office of the Attorney General at 300 SouthSpring Street, Suite 1702, Los Angeles, CA 90013, addressed as follows: Kathleen M.Scheidel Conrad Petermann Attorney at Law Attorney at Law . Office of the State Public Defender Law Office of Conrad Petermann 1111 Broadway, 10th Floor 323 East Matilija Street Oakland, CA 94607 Suite 110, PMB 142 (Attorney for Appellant Bryant) Ojai, CA 93023 (Attorney for Appellant Wheeler) David H. Goodwin Attorney at Law P.O. Box 93579 Los Angeles, CA 90093-0579 (Attorney for Appellant Smith) I declare under penalty of perjury under the lawsofthe State of California the foregoingis true and correct and that this declaration was executed on May8, 2014, at Los Angeles, California. Irene Rangel | ShurOnge Declarant Signature VBW:ir LA1997XS0006 61268205.doc SUPREME COURT AMENDED DECLARATION OF SERVICE BY U.S. MAIL F | L E Case Name: People v. Stanley Bryant, Donald F. Smith, and Leroy Wheeler MAY 14 2014 No.: S049596 Frank A. McGuire Clerk I declare: Deput I am employedin the Office of the Attorney General, which is the office of a member of the Y California State Bar, at which member's directionthis service is made. I am 18 years of age or older and not a party to this matter. I am familiar with the business practice at the Office of the Attorney General for collection and processing of correspondencefor mailing with the United States Postal Service. In accordance with that practice, correspondenceplacedin the internal mail collection system at the Office of the Attorney General is deposited with the United States Postal Service with postage thereon fully prepaid that sameday in the ordinary course of business. On May12, 2014, I served the attached FOCUS LETTERbyplacinga true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed envelopein the internal mail collection system at the Office of the Attorney General at 300 South Spring Street, Suite 1702, Los Angeles, CA 90013, addressed as follows: Kathleen M. Scheidel David H. Goodwin Attorney at Law Attorney at Law Office of the State Public Defender P.O. Box 93579 1111 Broadway, 10th Floor . Los Angeles, CA 90093-0579 Oakland, CA 94607 (Attorney for Appellant Smith) (Attorney for Appellant Bryant) Gary B. Wells Shelley J. Sandusky Attorney at Law Adrienne Toomey 6083 Figarden Dr. PMB 203 Attorneys at Law Fresno, CA 93722-3226 Habeas Corpus Resource Center (Habeas Counsel for Appellant Smith) 303 SecondStreet, Suite 400 South San Francisco, CA 94107 - Conrad Petermann (Habeas Counsels for Appellant Bryant) : Attorney at Law : Law Office of Conrad Petermann : 323 East Matilija Street * Suite 110, PMB 142 : Ojai, CA 93023 (Attorney and Habeas Counsel for Appellant Wheeler) - I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California the foregoingis true and correct and that this declaration was executed on May 12, 2014, at Los Angeles, California. Irene Rangel - SryOrc’, Declarant : SignatureO VBW:ir LA1997XS0006 6126975 1.doc
