People v. Rojas CA1/1

Filed 8/22/24 P. v. Rojas CA1/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A168293

v. (Napa County ALFONSO CORRO ROJAS, Super. Ct. No. 22CR002483) Defendant and Appellant.

Alfonso Corro Rojas was convicted by a jury of evading an officer with willful disregard and misdemeanor resisting arrest. He contends the trial court violated his constitutional right against double jeopardy by allowing the prosecution to amend the information to charge the lesser included offense of misdemeanor resisting arrest after granting his motion for acquittal of felony resisting arrest. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND In November 2022, the Napa County Sheriff’s Department received calls reporting a red truck “spinning donuts.” At the scene, the responding officer noticed a purple truck parked near the reported area and investigated. When the officer parked behind the truck and walked toward it, Rojas started it up and drove away. The officer returned to his car, activated the emergency lights, and pursued Rojas, who drove erratically. Eventually, the officer blocked Rojas’s truck from leaving a dead-end street.

The officer exited his car, told Rojas to turn off the truck and put his hands up. Rojas turned off the truck but would not raise his hands, even after several commands to do so. Additional officers arrived on the scene and formed a plan to arrest Rojas after he continued to ignore officers’ verbal commands. The officers eventually removed Rojas from the truck and placed him face down on the ground. When the initial responding officer grabbed Rojas’s left arm to place him in handcuffs, he felt Rojas tense up and try to pull away from him. In an amended information filed March 2023, Rojas was charged with three felonies: evading an officer while driving against traffic (Veh. Code, § 2800.4; count one), evading an officer with willful disregard (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a); count two), and resisting an executive officer (Pen. Code,1 § 69; count three). Rojas moved for acquittal of count three, felony resisting an executive officer, under section 1118.1 at the close of the prosecution’s case. The trial court granted the motion but allowed the prosecutor to amend the information to add the lesser included offense of misdemeanor resisting arrest (§ 148; count three). In ruling on the motion for acquittal, the trial court stated: “I’m just looking at this from the standpoint of a [section] 69, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a charge go forward just when some[one] was not complying with putting their hand behind their back. [¶] Normally, this is when the defendant is fight[ing] against the officer, oftentimes trying to punch them, bite them, resisting where they have to put them in a wrap, all those sorts of things. [¶] And here, it sounded like, yes, he wasn’t complying with putting his hand behind his back, but it didn’t sound like it was a felony [section] 69. [¶] So I’m going to grant the request at this point.”