Opinion
B160678.
7-10-2003
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ANTHONY WILLIE JACKSON, Defendant and Appellant.
William M. Duncan, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of the State of California, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle and Beverly K. Falk, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Appellant Anthony W. Jackson was convicted, following a jury trial, of one count of misdemeanor petty theft in violation of Penal Code section 484, one count of first degree residential burglary in violation of section 459, two counts of second degree commercial burglary in violation of section 459 and one count of receiving stolen property in violation of section 496, subdivision (a). Appellant was sentenced to a total of six years in state prison, consisting of the mid-term of four years for the residential burglary conviction, plus two eight-month terms for the commercial burglary convictions plus an eight-month term for the conviction for receiving stolen property. Appellant was sentenced to time served for the petty theft conviction.
All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.
Appellant appeals from the judgment of conviction, contending that there is insufficient evidence to support one of the commercial burglary convictions. We affirm the judgment of conviction.
Facts and Discussion
Only the facts relating to appellants challenged conviction for burglary of the Japan Pacific Driving School and some facts concerning the related commercial burglary of the Susan Schneider Agency are set forth in this opinion. The facts underlying appellants remaining convictions are not relevant to any issue on appeal and so are omitted.
Appellant contends that there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction for burglarizing the Pacific Japan Driving School. We cannot agree.
In reviewing a challenge to the sufficiency of evidence, "the reviewing court must consider the evidence in a light most favorable to the judgment and presume the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence in support of the judgment. The test is whether substantial evidence supports the decision, not whether the evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." (People v. Mincey (1992) 2 Cal.4th 408, 432, 827 P.2d 388.) The standard is the same when the prosecution relies mainly on circumstantial evidence to prove guilt. (People v. Rodriguez (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1, 11, 971 P.2d 618.)
When a defendant is found in possession of property stolen in a burglary shortly after the burglary occurred, the corroborating evidence of the defendants acts, conduct, or declarations tending to show his guilt need only be slight to sustain the burglary convictions. (People v. Mendoza (2000) 24 Cal.4th 130, 176.)
At about noon on November 26, 2001, members of the Crime Impact Team of the Torrance Police Department began a surveillance of appellants co-defendant Troy Smith. At about 7:45 that night, appellant and Mark Hernandez came to Smiths residence. The three left the residence in a Chevrolet Malibu, with Hernandez driving. They drove around for about four hours.
Smith is not a party to this appeal.
At about 11:40 p.m., Torrance Police Officers Dusty Garver and Martin McGee saw the Malibu stop in a parking lot on the west side of a business complex at 2008 Carson. Appellant and Smith got out of the car and went into the complex. Appellant was not carrying anything at that time. About 20 minutes later, Officer Garvey saw appellant and Smith come out of the complex carrying bags which appeared to be heavy. The men got back into the Malibu with the bags.
The officers followed the Malibu to an address in the 1400 block of West 221st Street in Torrance. Appellant lived in the garage of this residence from time to time. The officers arrested appellant, Smith and Hernandez. Inside the car, Officer Gaines found a paper bag full of mail from the Japan Pacific Driving School and a satchel full of mail from the Susan Schneider Agency. Both businesses were located in the complex at 2008 Carson.
Torrance Police Officer Harold Maestri went to the complex at 2008 Carson and found three offices with their front doors pushed open and their door jams broken. Two of the offices belonged to Susan Schneider. The third office was the Pacific Japan Driving School operated by May Hayashi.
This is more than sufficient evidence to show that the property in appellants possession was recently stolen and to support appellants conviction for burglarizing the Japan Pacific Driving School.
We cannot agree with appellants contention that the time of the burglary cannot be known with certainty because the owner of the Japan Pacific Driving School had been on vacation for about two months at the time the break-in was discovered, and that absent proof of the time of the break-in, there is insufficient evidence to show he committed the burglary. The only reasonable inference from the police officers observations is that both businesses at 2008 Carson were burglarized on November 26, and that appellant was either the perpetrator or an aider and abettor of those burglaries.
Disposition
The judgment is affirmed.
We concur: TURNER, P.J., and MOSK, J.