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People v. Hennagan3/25/2003
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
A jury convicted defendant of vehicle theft (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)), resisting an officer, a misdemeanor (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1)), and receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496, subd. (a)). The court found that defendant had a prior vehicle theft conviction (§ 666.5, subd. (a)) and a prior felony conviction (first degree burglary) within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12).
The court sentenced defendant to state prison for an aggregate term of eight years.
Defendant appeals. He contends that (1) the trial court failed to adequately investigate his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and to appoint new counsel to pursue his motion for a new trial, (2) the trial court erroneously denied his motion pursuant to People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 (Wheeler), and (3) section 654 bars his punishment for resisting an officer because it was committed to avoid arrest for the other two offenses. We shall affirm the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On September 29, 1999, at approximately 6:00 p.m., Sharon Harper left her Nissan Pulsar in her driveway. The car was locked, but the keys were in the ignition. The next morning, the car was gone.
On October 4, 1999, at 1:53 a.m., while on patrol in the Oak Park area, Sacramento Police Officer Daniel Nutley observed a car -- a Nissan Pulsar -- pulling out of an alley. As Officer Nutley drove by, he made eye contact with the driver, the defendant. Officer Nutley became suspicious when defendant hesitated in driving the car out of the alley. Accordingly, the officer made a U-turn.
Defendant then pulled the car out of the alley and accelerated to 35 miles per hour in a posted 25-mile-per-hour zone. The officer sped to catch up, observing defendant running stop signs and making unsafe turns. Finally, defendant came to a stop at a dead-end street, got out of the car, and started to walk away. Officer Nutley ordered defendant to stop, but defendant continued to walk away. After being ordered twice more to stop, defendant started to run. Officer Nutley radioed dispatch and chased after defendant. The officer eventually caught up with, and arrested, defendant.
When the officer searched the car, he could not find any keys. No keys were found in the area either. But the car did not appear to have been hotwired. A bicycle was found in the back seat of the car, with its front tire removed. A windbreaker jacket was on the front passenger seat; it had a rock cocaine pipe in the pocket.
At 2:00 a.m. on October 4, Harper was advised that her car had been recovered. She described the condition of her car as "pretty trashed" and said that the dashboard was damaged where someone had tried to pry out the radio.
Defendant testified at trial. He explained that on October 3, he had ridden his bicycle to a location to buy rock cocaine from "JD." Defendant put the rocks in a plastic baggie. When he started to leave, he remembered that the tire on his bike was going flat and asked to borrow JD's car. Indeed, defendant did not want to ride or walk his bike home because he was on searchable probation; he was concerned that he would be stopped by the police, who heavily patrolled the area. JD agreed to loan defendant the car, which defendant suspected was a "rent-a-bucket," that is,
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