People v. Dixon CA3

Filed 1/30/14 P. v. Dixon CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C073022

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 12F03378)

v.

SAMUEL DIXON,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted defendant Samuel Dixon of the unlawful possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana while in state prison (Pen. Code, § 4573.6; undesignated section references are to this code). In bifurcated proceedings, defendant admitted a strike prior (1992 first degree murder) (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12). The court imposed six years (the midterm of three years, doubled for the strike prior) with one-third, or two years, to run consecutively to defendant’s current sentence, an eight- year determinate term and a 37 to life indeterminate term. Defendant appeals, contending insufficient evidence supports his conviction for possession. We reject his contention and affirm the judgment.

1

FACTS Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 576), the evidence adduced at trial reflects the following. On October 28, 2011, Correctional Officer Burke Scruggs and Correctional Sergeant John Zuber approached defendant who was standing in a sally port near a mechanical room. Officer Scruggs ordered defendant to submit to a search. Instead of complying with the order, defendant turned and ran through the door to the mechanical room, ignoring Officer Scruggs’s orders to stop and to get on the ground. Officer Scruggs saw that defendant had both hands in front of him. Sergeant Zuber observed defendant reach into the “waistband pocket area of his pants” as he fled. Inside and towards the back of the mechanical room, defendant tripped and fell face down onto the floor. Officer Scruggs held defendant while other prison guards handcuffed defendant. After defendant was under control, both Sergeant Zuber and Officer Scruggs observed a civilian worker and another inmate in the rear of the room. Neither Sergeant Zuber nor Officer Scruggs noted these people in their reports, concluding these people were not involved in the incident. Sergeant Zuber retraced defendant’s steps and found two cellophane wrapped bindles just inside the door to the mechanical room. The bindles contained controlled substances wrapped in smaller bindles: a total of 3.04 grams of cocaine base, 0.31 grams of methamphetamine, and 1.19 grams of marijuana, usable amounts of each. No fingerprints were found on the bindles. Jamie Agredano, a civilian maintenance mechanic, was inside the mechanical room working with and supervising an inmate assistant. As they prepared to leave the room, an alarm sounded which meant there was a fight or a chase. Agredano advised his inmate assistant to move to the back of the room and to get down on the floor. Agredano walked towards the front of the room and defendant ran past him, throwing “two white things” to the floor on his right hand side. Agredano testified that the two bindles were not on the floor prior to defendant being chased into the room. Agredano also testified