People v. Bay

249 Cal. Rptr. 3d 506
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedJuly 10, 2019
DocketA154498
StatusPublished

This text of 249 Cal. Rptr. 3d 506 (People v. Bay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bay, 249 Cal. Rptr. 3d 506 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

Humes, P.J.

At trial, Dylan Bay was convicted of felony counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and misdemeanor counts of possessing burglary tools and giving false information to a peace officer. Bay admitted two prior-prison-term allegations were true, and the trial court sentenced him to three years and eight months in prison.

On appeal, Bay claims that insufficient evidence supports the three possession convictions. He also claims, and the Attorney General concedes, that the trial court erred by staying instead of striking one of the prior-prison-term enhancements. We affirm the felony convictions for possession of a firearm and ammunition, because substantial evidence supports a finding that the contraband was in Bay's constructive possession. But we reverse the misdemeanor conviction under Penal Code 1 section 466 for possession of burglary tools, because no evidence supports a finding that any such tools were "upon [Bay] in his ... possession."2 We also agree that the prior-prison-term enhancement should have been stricken. Otherwise, we affirm the judgment.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

At around 2:00 a.m. on September 9, 2017, a Napa County Sheriff's deputy was on patrol when he noticed a Cadillac SUV parked illegally near a popular overlook. The deputy approached and saw three people in the vehicle, including Bay, who was *509sitting in the driver's seat. When asked what they were doing, Bay said "they were just sitting there looking at the view and asked ... if they were doing something wrong." The deputy indicated a no-parking sign and asked Bay for identification. Bay, whom the deputy knew from prior contacts, stated that he did not have identification and provided a false name. Knowing that Bay was on postrelease community supervision (PRCS) and subject to search terms, the deputy asked him to get out of the vehicle.

After Bay complied, the deputy asked him "[i]f he had any guns, knives, drugs[,] or any other weapons on him or in the vehicle," and Bay said, "Not that I know of." The deputy then conducted a pat search of Bay's person and felt a wallet in his back pocket. Bay admitted that the wallet contained identification in his real name. The deputy asked why he had provided a false name, and Bay said that "[h]e was worried that he might have a warrant." Before searching the SUV, the deputy asked Bay again whether there was any contraband in the vehicle. This time, Bay admitted "there was an amount of marijuana in the small pouch of the Jansport backpack inside the vehicle."

While Bay was detained in the deputy's patrol vehicle, the deputy spoke to the other two people in the SUV, a woman in the front passenger's seat named N.F. and a man in the backseat named R.Z. The vehicle, which belonged to N.F., was "[e]xtremely messy." The deputy described the interior as having "a lot of items packed in very tightly," and the man "in the back appeared to have been packed in there with the items."

The backpack Bay had mentioned was "directly behind the center console," almost sitting on top of it, and the deputy testified that it would have been accessible by all three people in the car. Upon searching the backpack, the deputy found marijuana, as well as a notebook, in its front compartment. The back compartment contained a loaded .380 caliber pistol in a gun case, boxes of ammunition, a lock pick set, a bong, and a hypodermic needle. In addition, a butterfly knife was in the console of the driver's door.3

The registered owner of the pistol was later determined to be S.Z., the recently deceased boyfriend of N.F. and brother of R.Z. A piece of paper with S.Z.'s name on it was inside the gun case. The deputy formed the impression that there was "some sort of relationship" between Bay and N.F., but he was unaware of any direct relationship between Bay and S.Z.

An evidence technician testified that she performed a fingerprint analysis on the pistol, an ammunition box, the lock pick set, and the butterfly knife, which were the only items collected as evidence. There were no usable fingerprints on any of them. In addition, although the technician swabbed the items for possible DNA, those samples were never tested.

Bay was charged with two felonies, being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition, and three misdemeanors, providing false information to a peace officer, possessing burglary tools, and carrying a switchblade knife. It was also alleged that he had served two prior prison terms for two 2016 felony convictions.4 Before trial, Bay stipulated *510that he was a felon and admitted the prior-prison-term allegations.

A jury acquitted Bay of carrying a switchblade knife and convicted him of the four other counts. The trial court denied probation and sentenced him to a total of three years and eight months in prison, composed of a term of two years for the firearm possession and consecutive terms of eight months for the ammunition possession and one year for one of the prior-prison-term enhancements. He was also sentenced to two concurrent terms of six months in jail for providing false information and possessing burglary tools, and a one-year term for the other prior-prison-term enhancement was imposed and stayed.

II.

DISCUSSION

A. Substantial Evidence Supports the Convictions for Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition but Not the Conviction for Possession of Burglary Tools.

Bay claims that his convictions for possession of a firearm, ammunition, and burglary tools must be reversed because there was insufficient evidence that he knew the backpack contained these items. We agree with the Attorney General that substantial evidence supports the conclusion that Bay constructively possessed the backpack and its contents, and on this basis we affirm the convictions for possession of a firearm and ammunition. But we reverse the conviction for possession of burglary tools under section 466, because that statute requires that a defendant have the tools not just in his or her constructive possession but "upon him or her in his or her possession."5

1. Standard of review.

In analyzing claims such as Bay's, " ' " 'we review the entire record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether it contains substantial evidence-that is, evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid value-from which a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.' [Citation.]" [Citation.] In conducting such a review, we " 'presume[ ] in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence.' [Citation.]" [Citations.] "Conflicts and even testimony which is subject to justifiable suspicion do not justify the reversal of a judgment, for it is the exclusive province of the trial judge or jury to determine the credibility of a witness and the truth or falsity of the facts upon which a determination depends." ' " ( People v. Harris (2013) 57 Cal.4th 804, 849, 161 Cal.Rptr.3d 364

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Bluebook (online)
249 Cal. Rptr. 3d 506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bay-calctapp5d-2019.