California v. James
Annotate this CaseIn case No. 12F03331, a jury found defendant Brenton James guilty of battery against a transportation worker, assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, misdemeanor resisting, delaying, and obstructing an officer, and misdemeanor willful harm or injury to a child. In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found true allegations defendant committed the battery while released from custody in case No. 12F00971 and had one prior strike conviction. Case No. 12F03331 was joined with case No. 12F00971 for sentencing. Defendant was sentenced to an aggregate term of 10 years 4 months in state prison. In case No. 12F03331, defendant was sentenced to six years for assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and a consecutive two years for the on-bail enhancement. Defendant’s sentence for assault against a transportation worker was stayed and he was sentenced to time served on the misdemeanor convictions. In case No. 12F00971, defendant was sentenced to one year for assault with a deadly weapon, one year four months for first degree burglary, both to run consecutive to defendant’s sentence in case No. 12F03331, and time served for misdemeanor battery. Defendant appealed the judgment, which implicated both cases; however, the issues raised on appeal only concerned case No. 12F03331. Defendant argued: (1) the trial court erred in failing to sua sponte instruct the jury on battery on a person on public transportation as a lesser included offense of battery against a transportation worker; and (2) there was no substantial evidence to support defendant’s conviction for battery against a transportation worker because there is no evidence the victim of the battery was a "station agent." The Court of Appeal concluded after review of the record that there was no evidence, substantial or otherwise, to support a finding that the victim of the battery was a "station agent." The Court reversed the trial court's judgment with respect to that charge, modified defendant’s conviction for battery against a transportation worker by reducing it to simple battery, and remanded the case for resentencing.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.