People v. Rodriguez

18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 550, 122 Cal. App. 4th 121, 2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8367, 2004 Daily Journal DAR 11290, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1487
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 9, 2004
DocketB165974
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 550 (People v. Rodriguez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Rodriguez, 18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 550, 122 Cal. App. 4th 121, 2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8367, 2004 Daily Journal DAR 11290, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1487 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Opinion

MOSK, J.

A jury convicted defendant and appellant Ralph Rodriguez (appellant) of first degree burglary under Penal Code 1 section 459. Following a separate nonjury trial on appellant’s prior criminal record, the trial court found that appellant had two prior Texas convictions for burglary—one in 1974 and the second in 1992—a prior Texas conviction for attempted burglary in 1989, a prior Texas conviction for robbery in 1976, and that all four prior convictions qualified for purposes of sentencing enhancements as serious felonies under sections 667 and 1170.12, and as defined by section 1192.7, subdivision (c). 2 The trial court denied appellant’s motion to strike three of the four prior felony convictions and sentenced appellant to serve 25 years to life for the California burglary offense, plus 5 consecutive years for each of the four prior Texas felony convictions, for a total sentence of 45 years to life.

Appellant challenges the trial court’s findings concerning the prior felony convictions and the sentences imposed for those convictions, contending that the evidence was insufficient to prove that each of the prior offenses is a serious felony under California law. We hold that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt as to each of appellant’s four prior Texas convictions that those convictions contained all of the elements of a serious felony under California law. We accordingly reverse the trial court’s findings concerning the prior convictions and the sentence enhancements imposed as a result of those convictions and remand for a retrial as to whether any of the prior Texas convictions qualifies as a serious felony under California law and for resentencing consistent with the results of the retrial.

*126 BACKGROUND

An information charged appellant with first degree burglary, in violation of section 459, and alleged that he previously had been convicted of offenses that qualified as serious or violent felonies under sections 1170.12, subdivisions (a) through (d), and section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i). The prior offenses were all from the State of Texas and consisted of a 1976 conviction for robbery; 1974 and 1992 convictions for burglary; and a 1989 conviction for attempted burglary. 3 At trial, appellant’s prior convictions, as well as the special circumstances allegations of his California burglary, were bifurcated from the rest of the charges. The trial court subsequently granted a motion by the prosecutor to strike the special circumstances allegations of the California burglary offense.

A. Evidence of 1976 Texas Robbery Conviction.

The evidence presented concerning appellant’s 1976 Texas robbery conviction included a judgment dated March 15, 1976 and a document captioned “Sentence.” The judgment states that appellant had been indicted for “Aggravated Robbery” 4 committed on June 22, 1975, “but upon motion of the state the offense was reduce [sic] to robbery. The defendant on trial for Robbery.” The judgment further states that appellant had “waived arraignment and formal reading of the indictment and in open court, pleaded guilty to the charge contained in the indictment.” The Sentence states that appellant was sentenced to “not less than 2 years nor more than 3” after having “been adjudged guilty of Robbery.”

B. Evidence of 1974 Texas Burglary Conviction.

The evidence concerning appellant’s 1974 burglary conviction includes a grand jury indictment from the November/April 1971-1972 term of the District Court of Fort Bend County, Texas, alleging that on December 6, 1971, in the County of Fort Bend, Texas, appellant “did then and there unlawfully by force, threats, and fraud, break and enter a house there situate *127 [sz'c] and occupied and controlled by Janie Garza and with the intent then and there fraudulently to take from the said house corporeal personal property therein being, and belonging to the said Janie Garza, from the possession of the said Janie Garza, without his consent, and with the intent to deprive the said Janie Garza, the owner of said corporeal personal property, of the value thereof, and to appropriate the same to the use and benefit of him, the said Ralph Rodriguez.” The grand jury indictment contains no case number.

There is evidence of a March 25, 1974 judgment of the District Court of Fort Bend, Texas in case No. 9418, stating that appellant pled guilty to the offense of burglary and a March 26, 1974 document entitled “Sentence,” also from the District Court of Fort Bend, Texas in case No. 9418, stating that appellant was sentenced to two years after having been adjudged guilty of burglary. The record contains several documents from the District Court of Harris County, Texas that appear to be unrelated to the 1974 burglary conviction, including two copies of a January 24, 1973 judgment in case No. 184732 stating that appellant was guilty of theft committed on September 11, 1972; two copies of an order dated December 20, 1973, revoking probation and sentencing in case No. 184732; a June 5, 1972 judgment in case No. 171301 stating that appellant was found guilty of unlawfully selling a narcotic drug; an order dated March 18, 1974, revoking probation and sentencing in case No. 171301; and a record of appellant’s fingerprints from the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville, Texas.

C. Evidence of 1992 Texas Burglary Conviction.

The evidence concerning appellant’s 1992 burglary conviction consists of a judgment dated March 18, 1992, from the District Court of Harris County, Texas, stating that appellant pled guilty to “[bjurglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft and having been twice before convicted of a felony,” and that he received a sentence of 30 years. The judgment designates the “degree” of appellant’s offense as “1st.” A handwritten notation in the upper right hand comer of the second page of the judgment states “Rodriguez 588272.”

The evidence also includes a grand jury indictment from the District Court of Harris County, Texas in case No. 588272 alleging that, on February 6, 1991, appellant did, “with intent to commit theft, enter a habitation owned by Julie Rangel, a person having a greater right to possession of the habitation than the Defendant and hereafter styled the Complainant, without the effective consent of the Complainant, namely, without any consent of any kind.”

*128 D. Evidence of 1989 Texas Attempted Burglary Conviction.

The evidence concerning appellant’s 1989 attempted burglary conviction contains a “judgment on plea of guilty or nolo contendere before court waiver of jury trial” from the District Court of Harris County, Texas, stating that appellant was convicted of “attempted burglary of a habitation with intent to commit burglary of a habitation” and received a seven-year sentence.

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Bluebook (online)
18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 550, 122 Cal. App. 4th 121, 2004 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8367, 2004 Daily Journal DAR 11290, 2004 Cal. App. LEXIS 1487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-rodriguez-calctapp-2004.