People v. Newton CA4/1

Filed 1/30/25 P. v. Newton CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D084673

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. INF2200461)

ROBERT ANTHONY NEWTON,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County, Brian E. Hill, Judge. Reversed. Richard Schwartzberg, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Robin Urbanski, Laura Baggett, and Minh U. Le, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. MEMORANDUM OPINION Appellant Robert Anthony Newton was convicted by a jury of four counts of residential burglary with another person (not an accomplice)

present in the house (Pen. Code,1 §§ 459 & 667.5, subd. (c)(21)) and four counts of the unauthorized use of personal identifying information (§ 530.5, subd. (a)). The People further alleged, and the jury found true, that Newton carried out each count with planning, sophistication, or professionalism (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(a)(8)). The trial court then held a bench trial and found true the allegations that Newton had three serious prior convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)) and three strike prior convictions (§§ 667, subds. (c) & (e)(2)(A) & 1170.12, subd. (c)(2)). The court later struck the prior strikes as to two of the burglary counts. The court denied probation and sentenced Newton to a determinate term of 23 years plus a consecutive indeterminate term of 50 years to life. Newton appeals only his conviction on count 5 for obtaining and using for an unlawful purpose the personal information of Randall E. That count involved a casino “easy-pay ticket” from Agua Caliente Hotel and Casino (Agua Caliente) that Newton exchanged for cash after taking it from Randall E.’s home during a burglary. An easy-pay ticket is a voucher generated by a slot machine representing an amount of money that can be used for play at the casino or can be cashed out from a cashier or redemption machine. The ticket displays the casino name, a validation code, the value of the ticket, and the machine number that generated the ticket. At Agua Caliente, casino patrons may obtain a “player’s card” with a unique identification number. They use the card to earn points for their gaming activity, which they can redeem for complementary rewards. The casino uses the player’s card to track a customer’s play. To access the account and earn points prior to gambling, the cardholder must enter a four-digit personal identification number (PIN). However, the PIN is not