People v. Holley CA4/1

Filed 9/24/26 P. v. Holley 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, D086338

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. FSB18003097) v.

ROBERT LEE HOLLEY, JR.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, Ronald M. Christianson, Judge. Affirmed.

Marcia R. Clark, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Robert Lee Holley, Jr., appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence following a jury trial. His appellate counsel filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende) and Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 (Anders). We notified Holley of his right to file a supplemental brief, and he has not done so. Based on our independent review of the record, we find no reasonably arguable appellate issues and affirm the judgment.

I. Background

A. Convictions

In September 2024, a jury convicted Holley of the first-degree murder of Jasper Vault (Pen. Code,1 § 187, subd. (a), 189) and of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1)). As to the murder count, the jury also found true that Holley personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing death (§ 12022.53, subds. (c) & (d)). After the jury returned its verdicts, Holley admitted he had previously been convicted of a first-degree residential burglary which qualified as a prior strike and a prior serious felony.

B. Trial Evidence

On August 7, 2018, Vault, a Hustler Squad gang member, was shot dead as he sat in the driver seat of his yellow Jeep while parked in rival territory claimed by the Colton City Crips gang. The forensic investigation revealed Vault sustained five gunshot wounds, including a fatal shot to the upper right back, from a nine-millimeter firearm. Six rounds were fired into the Jeep from the passenger side and other rounds were fired into the Jeep from the driver’s side.

J.M. was doing tree trimming work nearby when he saw a young African American man wearing “all black with black shoes, blue logo” walk up to Vault’s yellow Jeep and shoot four or five times into the passenger side with a black handgun. The man then walked around the back to the driver’s side and fired another four shots into the driver’s side of the Jeep. J.M. identified Holley as the shooter from a photographic lineup with a confidence of 38 percent; he excluded all other photographs in the lineup as possible suspects. He also identified Holley in court as the shooter, but he claimed he did so based on his memory of the same face from the photographic lineup. J.M. was in custody on an unrelated matter and housed in general population near Holley when he testified at Holley’s trial. While in custody, Holley or another inmate “close to him” told J.M. not to testify and to assert his Fifth Amendment rights. J.M. became afraid to testify and was placed in protective custody.

A witness, who declined to provide his name, told police he saw a Black male dressed in black run north from the crime scene and get into a silver Ford Focus with a partial license plate number of 381. Based on this information, police responded to a hotel the next morning, on August 8, 2018, where a silver Toyota Camry with a California license plate number 7ZCH381 had been located. The Camry was parked in the hotel parking lot, unoccupied. Officers set up surveillance and saw Holley approach the Camry, take out a black sweatshirt or black backpack from the trunk, walk to a dumpster area, and exit the dumpster area without the sweatshirt or backpack. Holley then left in the Camry with five other individuals, including John Doe who was driving. After a traffic stop, officers arrested Holley and the other five individuals.

The police recovered a black sweatshirt from the dumpster. Footage from a surveillance camera near where Vault was shot showed a Black male running northbound, wearing blue shoes and a black sweatshirt with a white mark on the sleeve that matched the black sweatshirt retrieved from the dumpster. The black sweatshirt was found to have gunshot residue on the right sleeve and on the front interior pouch pocket. Holley’s DNA was on the black sweatshirt in a mixture of four contributors.

The same surveillance footage of the crime scene area also captured the silver Toyota Camry that police had stopped with John Doe driving and Holley as one of the occupants. Doe and Holley belonged to the Colton City Crips, but at the time of trial Doe was in “bad standing” with the gang because he had “snitched.”

Doe testified that he was driving a rented silver Toyota Camry with a license plate number of 7ZCH381.2 In the car with him were Holley, “Cheddar” and “Squez.” At some point, Holley told Doe to drive toward the Village Greens apartments near the location of the shooting. When they reached an alley, Holley told Doe to stop. Holley got out, told Doe to pick him up on the side or back street of the alley, and headed toward the street where Vault was parked in his Jeep. Holley was wearing a black sweatshirt. Four or five minutes later, Doe picked up Holley who was “power walking” to Doe’s car. When Holley got in the backseat, he was out of breath. Holley told Doe to “[j]ust go, leave” and that he just killed someone. Holley told Doe, the shooting “was over a ‘where you from’ problem.”

C. Motion for New Trial

In October 2024, Holley filed a motion for a new trial as a self- represented litigant. He argued the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; there was a witness (Brandon Hall) who could provide newly discovered evidence; his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel; the prosecution presented irrelevant and highly prejudicial evidence; and that his trial counsel unduly pressured him to not testify contrary to his wishes. He provided a declaration from Hall, attesting that Holley was not a Colton City Crips member but “[a]n associate maybe”; Holley did not commit Vault’s murder and Hall knew who did but would not disclose that information in his declaration to protect his and Holley’s interests.

At a hearing in November 2024, Holley’s trial counsel stated he was unable to join or assist in Holley’s motion for new trial because of the ineffective assistance claim. Holley requested the trial court relieve his trial counsel and appoint new counsel. Accordingly, in December 2024, the court conducted a Marsden3 hearing, at which Holley withdrew his argument that he had been unfairly dissuaded from testifying. Because Holley withdrew his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the court ruled there was no legal basis to relieve trial counsel. Trial counsel agreed and, without objection from Holley, adopted and joined Holley’s motion for new trial.

Trial counsel represented Holley at an evidentiary hearing on the new trial motion, at which Hall and other witnesses testified. After Hall was cross-examined by the People, Holley withdrew his motion for a new trial and requested to be sentenced immediately. Trial counsel joined in Holley’s request, which the court granted.

D. Sentencing

At sentencing in March 2025, the trial court sentenced Holley to serve a prison term of 50 years to life on the murder count (25 to life doubled for the strike prior) plus a consecutive term of 25 years to life for the firearm enhancement under section 12022.53, subdivision (d). The court also imposed five years on the prior serious felony enhancement but struck punishment under section 1385 and stayed sentence pursuant to section 654 on the unlawful possession of a firearm conviction.

II. Discussion

Holley’s appellate counsel has filed a brief pursuant to Wende, supra, 25 Cal.3d 436 and Anders, supra, 386 U.S. 738, setting forth a detailed statement of the case and statement of facts, urging no grounds for reversal of the judgment, and asking this court to independently review the record for error. Counsel identifies the following issue to assist the court in its review: “Did the trial court err in allowing counsel to withdraw and then accept reappointment after having been relieved as counsel of record?”

As summarized, trial counsel was not relieved nor withdrew as counsel of record, and was not reappointed thereafter. The court properly declined to relieve trial counsel from representing Holley after the ineffective assistance claim was withdrawn, thereby denying the Marsden motion. After reviewing the entire record as required by Wende and Anders, we conclude there are no arguable issues for reversal or modification on appeal. Competent counsel has represented Holley on this appeal.

III. Disposition

The judgment is affirmed.

DO, Acting P. J. WE CONCUR:

CASTILLO, J.

RUBIN, J.