People v. Conway

Opinion .

SCOTLAND, J.

Defendant Wayne Conway was convicted by jury of first degree burglary (Pen. Code, § 459). The trial court found true the allegations that he had been convicted previously of two serious felonies (Pen. Code, § 667, subd. (a)) and had served prison terms for five felony convictions (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)). Defendant was sentenced to a prison term of 21 years for the burglary and enhancements.

In the published portion of this opinion, we reject defendant’s claim that his detention “was predicated upon nothing more than a ‘hunch’ ” and, thus, the trial court should have granted his motion to suppress evidence as the product of an illegal detention. As we shall explain, the circumstances presented to the patrol officer responding to the report of a burglary in progress justified a vehicle stop and detention of defendant and his companion for the purpose of investigating their possible involvement in the burglary.

In the unpublished part of our opinion, we disagree with defendant’s contention that the trial court erred in imposing a $4,200 restitution fine. Accordingly, we shall affirm the judgment.

Discussion

I

David McBride lives on Sawtelle Way in Sacramento County. Sawtelle is an “L”-shaped street which is connected to the main thoroughfare, La Riviera Drive, by Waterton Way.

On October 15,1992, McBride got up shortly before 3 a.m. to go to work. He looked out the bedroom window and saw his garage door was open. Two men were leaving the garage; one was dark and one was White, and each wore distinctive clothing. They were carrying tools and fishing poles. McBride woke up his wife, told her to call the police, and said he was going in pursuit of the burglars. In the front yard of a home four houses away, McBride found his tools.

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After awakening his neighbor and telling him about the stolen items on the front lawn, McBride ran to the turn in Sawtelle Way and observed a small Chevrolet drive by. McBride recognized the men inside the car. They were the culprits who had burglarized his garage. McBride yelled for the car to stop, but it kept going. When the car got to the corner of Sawtelle and Waterton, it was pursued by a patrol car. McBride ran to La Riviera Drive and saw the Chevrolet had been stopped by a patrol officer. McBride told the officer not to let the occupants go because they had taken property from his garage. McBride observed his radio/cassette player in the back of the Chevrolet.