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People v. Sullivan2/25/2003
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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 found defendant Michael Dennis Sullivan guilty of premeditated attempted murder of a police officer and 13 other crimes committed on two occasions in July and August of 1999. Defendant was sentenced to 178 years to life in prison for his crimes and enhancements for discharging a firearm and having numerous prior felony convictions.
Defendant appeals, contending (1) the parole search of his property violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (2) the trial court incorrectly instructed on the elements of assault; (3) the trial court used an erroneous standard to impose consecutive sentences; and (4) his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. We disagree and shall affirm.
Facts and Procedural History
We state the facts in support of the judgment. July 11, 1999
At 11:30 the previous night, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) set up an announced sobriety enforcement checkpoint on Watt Avenue in Sacramento County. About 1:30 a.m. on the 11th, defendant and a passenger drove up to the checkpoint in a pickup truck. CHP Officer Arthur Wronn asked defendant for his driver's license. He smelled an odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle. Officer Michael Womack asked defendant if he was on parole and he said he was on parole for murder. Officer Wronn then directed defendant to pull into a nearby parking lot. Officer Wronn, accompanied by Officer Womack, ordered defendant out of the truck and asked him to empty his pockets. Defendant complied, but then ran away. The officers lost sight of defendant in a foot pursuit.
Among the items in defendant's pockets and in his abandoned truck were his driver's license, 6.78 grams of methamphetamine inside a ball of electrical tape, $1,392 in cash, brass knuckles, a pager, 17 hypodermic syringes, and a "pay and owe" sheet. As a result of this incident, an arrest warrant was issued for defendant.
August 8, 1999
Officer Womack received information that defendant was at a house in Sacramento County preparing to leave the state in a motor home. The CHP set up surveillance of the house. When defendant was seen driving a 26- to 30-foot-long motor home from the house, Officers David Putnam and Ronald Zuber followed him in an unmarked car, CHP Sergeant Richard James and Officer Mark Boyle followed, with Boyle driving, in an unmarked Bronco, and Investigator Debbie Stanfill and Officer Bruce Ogden followed in another unmarked car. Three marked cars were nearby.
The motor home drove into a bank parking lot shortly before 7:40 p.m. A red Dodge Neon that had been in the lot pulled up next to the motor home. Sergeant James and Officer Boyle drove past the motor home in the parking lot to identify defendant as the driver. An officer on a CHP motorcycle unexpectedly drove into the parking lot. Fearing for the safety of the CHP motorcycle officer, Sergeant James ordered the officers to arrest defendant. Sergeant James and Officer Boyle placed a red spotlight facing forward on the dashboard of the Bronco. The Bronco pulled back into the parking lot, and stopped facing the motor home. Two marked CHP cars, at least one with its lights flashing, and one unmarked car with a red spotlight were behind the motor home.
The motor home accelerated toward the Bronco across the parking lot. Officer Boyle believed the motor
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