SERIES 1600 ROBBERY AND CARJACKING
F 1650 NOTES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
F 1650 Note 1 [Reserved]
F 1650 Note 2 Carjacking: Constitutional Challenge
F 1650 Note 3 Carjacking: Force Or Fear Element Can Occur Before, During Or After The Taking
F 1650 Note 4 Carjacking: Force Requires More Than That Which Is Necessary To Accomplish The Mere Seizing Of The Property
F 1650 Note 5 Carjacking: Victim Need Not Be Aware Of The Taking
F 1650 Note 6 Carjacking: “Immediate Presence” Element Is The Same As For Robbery
Return to Series 1600 Table of Contents.
F 1650 Note 1 [Reserved]
F 1650 Note 2 Carjacking: Constitutional Challenge
People v. Antoine (1996) 48 CA4th 489, 494-498, rejected a challenge to the carjacking statute (PC 215) based on overbreadth, vagueness, equal protection and unconstitutional application. (See also People v. Gray (1998) 66 CA4th 973 [carjacking statute (PC 215) is not unconstitutionally vague by permitting liability based both upon an intent to temporarily deprive and to permanently deprive].) However, these issues have not been resolved by the federal courts.
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 9.46 n2.
F 1650 Note 3 Carjacking: Force Or Fear Element Can Occur Before, During Or After The Taking
People v. O’Neil (1997) 56 CA4th 1126, held that the “force or fear” element of carjacking is similar to robbery in that it need not be contemporaneous with the taking. It is sufficient if the force or fear occurs before, during or after the taking. (See also People v. Coryell (2003) 110 CA4th 1299 [substantial evidence supported carjacking conviction where driver and passenger fled from car due to fear prior to taking].)
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 9.46 n3.
F 1650 Note 4 Carjacking: Force Requires More Than That Which Is Necessary To Accomplish The Mere Seizing Of The Property
The force element of the crime of robbery, under PC 211, requires “something more … than just that quantum of force which is necessary to accomplish the mere seizing of the property.” (People v. Morales (1975) 49 CA3d 134, 139; see also FORECITE F 9.40k.)
Carjacking (PC 215) is a crime that is close to robbery. The two statutes have nearly identical wording that differ only as to intent, and they are identical as to the “force or fear” element. A fortiori, the Morales standard, requiring something more than merely the force necessary to commit the underlying theft, applies as well to carjacking.
Moreover, the formulation of “force” as requiring something more than the force necessary to commit the underlying act is a technical definition peculiar to the law which requires sua sponte definition. (See FORECITE F 9.40k.) [See Brief Bank # B-728 for additional briefing concerning the required amount of force in carjacking.]
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 9.46 n4.
F 1650 Note 5 Carjacking: Victim Need Not Be Aware Of The Taking
In People v. Hill DEPUBLISHED/SUPERCEDED (1999) 70 CA4th 376, 383, the court applied the “well-developed law” applicable to the compulsion element of robbery (i.e., taking of property in the possession of another against the victim’s will, by means of force or fear) to the crime of carjacking. The court concluded that a baby in a car could not be the victim of a carjacking, if the child was unaware of the vehicle being taken and had, in no meaningful sense, a will which was overcome. “She was essentially unconscious and we conclude she could not be the victim of a robbery or carjacking.” (Hill, 70 CA4th at 383.) (See also FORECITE F 9.40g [Taking From Intoxicated Victim].) [See Brief Bank # B-833 for additional briefing on this issue.]
However, the Supreme Court reversed the judgement of the Court of Appeal in People v. Hill (2000) 23 C4th 853, 860-61 holding that the against-the-will requirement is satisfied if the criminal act “is done for an illegal purpose or with an illegal intent.” (Hill, 23 C4th at 855.)
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 9.46 n6.
F 1650 Note 6 Carjacking: “Immediate Presence” Element Is The Same As For Robbery
People v. Medina (1995) 39 CA4th 643, held that the same definition of immediate presence, which is applicable to robbery per PC 211, is also applicable to carjacking per PC 215.
The immediate presence element is satisfied even if the victim is forced to occupy his or her own vehicle during the carjacking. (See People v. Gray (1998) 66 CA4th 973, 984-85.)
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 9.46 n1.
