People v. Dunston CA2/8

── People v. Dunston CA2/8 ── Court: California Court of Appeal Date: May 08, 2026 Category: General Filed 5/8/26 P. v. Dunston CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION EIGHT THE PEOPLE, B340265 Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. v. 23PDCF00048 KEVIN DUNSTON, Defendant and Appellant. APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Donna Hollingsworth, Judge. Affirmed. Cynthia L. Barnes, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle and Daniel C. Chang, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________  Kevin Dunston took a bottle of tequila from a store without paying and waved a knife at employees who asked for its return. He had two prior robbery convictions and was on parole. Dunston challenges this robbery conviction and the court’s upper- term sentence. We affirm. Unspecified citations are to the Penal Code. Sean Macias and Kenneth Hall were two managers at a Stater Bros. Market in Pasadena. On December 9, 2023, Macias saw Dunston put a bottle of tequila inside his jacket. Dunston headed for the door. Macias asked Dunston to return the bottle or pay for it. Dunston said he would not, and threw some papers and unrelated receipts toward Macias and Hall before leaving. Hall and Macias followed Dunston out. They were within a few feet of Dunston at this point. They again asked Dunston to return the bottle. Dunston replied “I feel threatened. Back up.” He held up a folding pocket knife. That scared Macias and Hall, and Macias told Hall not to engage further. Police arrested Dunston. The jury convicted him of robbery. Dunston waived his right to a jury trial on his prior convictions and the court found true that Dunston had two prior convictions for robbery, he had served a prison term for those convictions, and he had been on parole when he took the tequila. The trial court reviewed the probation report, arguments from counsel, and the evidence presented at trial. The court struck one of Dunston’s priors and sentenced him to the upper term of five years, doubled for the prior strike, for a total of 10 years. The trial court calculated 289 days of credit. Dunston appealed the conviction and the sentence. 2  I We review the robbery conviction for substantial evidence. (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 576 (Johnson).) Robbery is “the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.” (§ 211.) The evidence was more than sufficient to convict Dunston of robbery. Dunston took a bottle of tequila from a store without paying for it, over the objections of two employees. The employees followed Dunston out of the store. He told them to “back up” and held out a knife, which was a threat of violence should they continue to pursue him. Dunston left with the bottle. Dunston protests there was no evidence he opened the knife, and he was five feet from the employees when he pulled it from his pocket – “out of their immediate presence