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People v. Nettles1/26/2004
After leading officers on a high-speed, late-night car chase, defendant Demitrius Laverne Nettles was convicted of attempting to evade a peace officer's pursuing vehicle, while driving under the influence (with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more), with willful, wanton disregard for safety, on a suspended driver's license.
Defendant appeals, contending the trial court erred in (1) failing to give Boykin-Tahl [FN1] advisements before accepting defendant's stipulation that he was under the influence of alcohol and had a blood-alcohol content above 0.08 percent at the time he was driving his vehicle; (2) failing to instruct the jury on attempting to evade a pursuing peace officer's vehicle, a lesser offense included in the crime of attempting to evade a pursuing peace officer's vehicle while driving with " 'willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property' "; [FN2] and (3) instructing the jury that it may consider defendant's flight as evidence of guilt.
FN1. Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274] (Boykin ); In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 (Tahl ), overruled on other grounds in Mills v. Municipal Court (1973) 10 Cal.3d 288, 307.
FN2. Vehicle Code section 2800.2, subdivision (a); undesignated statutory references are to the Vehicle Code.
We find no prejudicial error and shall affirm the judgment.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
While making an unrelated traffic stop around 2:30 a.m. on June 30, 2001, California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officers Charles Goodwin and Glen Glaser saw a silver or gray older model Cadillac accelerate rapidly from a nearby gas station and drive against traffic onto Stockton Boulevard. Jumping over the four-foot-wide raised center median, the Cadillac headed toward the officers and both officers could see the driver, a Black man wearing a dark or black T-shirt. The vehicle came within 10 feet of the officers.
As the driver of the Cadillac sped northbound on Stockton Boulevard at 75 to 80 miles per hour, weaving around other cars in traffic, the CHP officers gave chase. The Cadillac turned onto Broadway, where the driver continued speeding and ran at least two red lights. When the officers tried to follow the Cadillac as it turned onto 62nd Street, they failed to negotiate the turn, hit a fence, and lost sight of the car.
During the chase, Officer Glaser made radio dispatches identifying the car as a silver or gray older model Cadillac carrying a lone, Black male occupant wearing a dark T-shirt. A Sacramento sheriff's deputy on duty nearby heard the dispatches, including a report that the CHP officers could no longer follow the car as it continued in the direction of 53rd Street.
Following the dispatch information, the deputy turned onto 53rd Street where he saw a silver Cadillac turn onto the same street from 11th Avenue. The deputy made a U-turn, activated his emergency lights, and attempted to overtake the Cadillac. After the deputy activated his emergency lights, the Cadillac rapidly accelerated to about 50 miles per hour, then skidded abruptly to a stop on the sidewalk. The driver--later identified as defendant--immediately threw a set of keys out of the car, and put his hands outside the open driver's window. The car smelled strongly of brakes, and the deputy heard its engine making popping and cracking noises he associated with a car having been driven "really, really fast for a period of time."
*2 Within a short time after the deputy reported over the radio that he had stopped the Cadillac, Officers Goodwin and Glaser arrived on the scene. Both identified the defendant as the driver and his car as the Cadillac they had been chasing with 100 percent certitude. Officer Glaser told defendant, "[you] got away from us, but our partner
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