Can a defendant be convicted under section 136.1, subdivision (b)(1), attempting to prevent or dissuade another person from making a report to law enforcement?

In People v. Hallock (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 595, 598, the defendant threatened the victim at the time of the original crime, telling her: "'if you tell anybody anything that happened tonight here, . . . I'll blow your house up.'" The defendant was charged pursuant to section 136.1, subdivision (b), attempting to prevent or dissuade a witness from making a complaint or report to law enforcement, but the jury was erroneously instructed on a violation of subdivision (a), attempting to prevent or dissuade a victim from attending or giving testimony at trial. (Id at p. 607.) The court rejected the argument that the threat was sufficiently broad to support a conviction under either subdivision (a) or (b), explaining that the "threat could only reasonably have been believed to have been directed at reporting the crime to the police . . . or others in authority that might lead to defendant's arrest" and that it was "unreasonable to conclude that defendant was concerned with testimony at a future trial for a crime for which he had not yet been arrested." (Ibid.)

In People v. Fernandez (2003) 106 Cal.App.4th 943, 946-947, the defendant was convicted under section 136.1, subdivision (b)(1), attempting to prevent or dissuade another person from making a report to law enforcement. The facts clearly established that the defendant drove the witness to the preliminary hearing and begged him not to tell the truth. (Id. at p. 946.) The court held that although defendant's conduct would have been punishable as an attempt to influence a witness's testimony under section 137, subdivision (c), had it been charged under that section, it did not constitute a violation of section 136.1, subdivision (b)(1). (Id. at p. 951.)

In People v. Womack (1995) 40 Cal.App.4th 926, 928-929, the defendant followed a witness for the prosecution who had been placed in protective custody, came up behind him, placed a rope around his neck and brought him to the ground, where he then stabbed the victim with a knife. The defendant told the victim he should have kept his mouth shut. (Id. at p. 929.) When a car pulled up, the defendant twisted the rope one last time

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