P. v. Bellazain CA1/5

Filed 7/29/13 P. v. Bellazain CA1/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A133985 v. PAUL BELLAZAIN, (San Francisco City and County Super. Ct. No. 212437-03) Defendant and Appellant.

Paul Bellazain (appellant) appeals from a final judgment of conviction of numerous felonies following a jury trial. Appellant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial. We reject appellant‟s contention and affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On January 4, 2010, Latanya Gaitlin lived on Redondo Street in San Francisco with several of her family members. Around 3:00 p.m. on that day, officers responded to a report of a burglary in progress at Gaitlin‟s home. San Francisco Police Officers Misaghi and Hargreaves were the first to arrive, and they directed other responding units to set up a perimeter. Shortly thereafter, Misaghi observed three males walk out of the house toward the front gate. The males were approximately 12 feet from Misaghi. Appellant was walking behind two of the males, DeShawn Christopher and Terence Smith, and Misaghi immediately recognized appellant‟s face from a “photo” he had seen. Misaghi ordered the men to raise their hands to ensure they were unarmed.

1

Smith and Christopher immediately complied, but appellant turned and ran back into the house. As appellant did so, Misaghi observed him make a “furtive throwing motion” in the hallway. A gun was later recovered from a box in the hallway. Misaghi radioed for other officers to pursue appellant while he proceeded to take Smith and Christopher into custody. Appellant ran out the back of the house and was seen jumping over a fence. After detaining the two other suspects, Misaghi pursued appellant. A short time later, Misaghi encountered appellant midway down the next block as he was scaling a nearby fence. Misaghi ordered appellant to stop, but he continued to climb over the fence. Misaghi then lost sight of appellant. After following appellant over several more fences, Misaghi found him sitting on top of a fence, which separated a backyard area from a road. Appellant was uncooperative, but he was eventually taken into custody. Around the same time appellant was arrested, officers received a report of another person, a juvenile, who was attempting to flee from police. The juvenile was taken into custody in connection with the burglary of a different house in the same area. Police recovered a silver iPod and a package of cigars along the flight path of the juvenile. Later that afternoon, Gaitlin was notified at her workplace that her house had been burglarized. She returned home to find that her bedroom and several other areas of the house had been disturbed. Handbags, jewelry, and a purple iPod were missing from the house. These items were later found in the possession of either Smith or Christopher. Gatlin reported that the box of cigars and the silver iPod recovered from the juvenile did not belong to any of her family members. The jury trial commenced on August 16, 2011, and the three men were jointly tried. On August 22, the San Francisco District Attorney filed a second amended information charging appellant with first degree residential burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) (count 1); receipt of stolen property (id., § 496, subd. (a)) (count 2); illegal possession of a firearm by a felon (id., former § 12021, subd. (a)(1), now § 29800, subd. (a)(1)) (count 3); possession of a loaded firearm (id., former § 12031, subd. (a)(1), now § 25850, subd. (a)) (count 4); and two counts of resisting arrest (id., § 148, subd. (a)(1)) (counts 5 & 6).