People v. Ashley CA1/4, A172264

Denard Ashley was involved in a physical altercation with Jane Doe and her two sons, Tr. (16) and Ty. (18), which escalated when Ashley produced a knife, resulting in injuries.
Ashley was charged with multiple felony counts: assault with a deadly weapon against Ty., assault with a deadly weapon against Tr., and corporal injury on Doe.
At the close of the prosecution's case, Ashley moved for acquittal on all counts, focusing particularly on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon on Tr., arguing insufficient evidence.
The trial court granted the motion in part by modifying the charge against Tr. from assault with a deadly weapon to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen. Code § 245(a)(4)), without objection from the defense.
Ashley was convicted by a jury on all counts (as modified) and sentenced, with the court doubling his term on the felony counts due to a prior strike conviction.
On appeal, Ashley challenged the trial court's authority to modify the charge instead of granting total acquittal, claiming due process issues and ineffective assistance of counsel.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred in reducing the charge from assault with a deadly weapon to force-likely assault	Valid given evidence on broader conduct, and defense failed to object	Modification was improper; force-likely assault is not a lesser included offense of assault with a deadly weapon	Ashley forfeited the claim by not objecting at trial
Whether claim of violation of due process due to lack of notice was preserved	No procedural error—defense did not raise due process at trial	Due process was violated by lack of notice, based on People v. Pack	Argument forfeited; not preserved for appeal
Ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to reduction in charge	Record does not support; tactical choices possible	No rational tactical reason for failing to object; prejudice resulted	No ineffective assistance; conceivable tactical reasons exist

People v. Salazar, 63 Cal.4th 214 (Cal. 2016) (discusses forfeiture of unpreserved issues on appeal)
People v. Johnsen, 10 Cal.5th 1116 (Cal. 2021) (explains standards for ineffective assistance of counsel claims)
People v. Aguayo, 13 Cal.5th 974 (Cal. 2022) (distinguishes sentencing implications for different assault convictions)