People v. Allen CA3

Filed 8/25/14 P. v. Allen CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (Placer) ----

THE PEOPLE, C071251

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 62-108383)

v.

CASEY SCOTT ALLEN,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant Casey Scott Allen guilty of causing bodily injury while driving under the influence of alcohol and while driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher. Due to a prior strike conviction, the trial court doubled the base term of defendant’s prison sentence. On appeal, he contends the trial court abused its discretion by permitting an amended information to be filed during trial to allege the prior strike conviction pursuant to Penal Code section 969a.1 We find the trial court did not

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1

abuse its discretion in permitting the People to amend the information during trial and shall affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Given the limited nature of defendant’s appeal, we recite only the facts pertinent to our analysis of the amendment to the information authorized by the trial court.

Defendant was charged with causing bodily injury while driving under the influence of alcohol and causing bodily injury while driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher. (Veh. Code, § 23153, subds. (a) & (b), respectively.) It was also alleged that defendant drove with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent or higher (Veh. Code, § 23538, subd. (b)(2)), that he caused bodily injury to more than one victim (Veh. Code, § 23558), and that he had suffered a prior felony conviction (Super. Ct. Placer Co., 2004, No. 62-042093—Pen. Code, §§ 273.5, 236, 136.1) for which he had been in prison less than five years prior to the commission of the instant charged offense (Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)).2