People v. Allen CA2/8

Filed 4/12/16 P. v. Allen CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B260800

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA426496) v.

FORREST ALLEN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Mildred Escobedo, Judge. Affirmed.

Greg Demirchyan, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle and Russell A. Lehman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Defendant and appellant Forrest Allen was convicted of one count of attempted burglary. Defendant contends there is insufficient evidence demonstrating the requisite specific intent for attempted burglary, and that the court erred in precluding him from presenting evidence on his defense of voluntary intoxication. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Defendant was charged by information with one count of first degree residential burglary (Pen. Code, § 459). Trial by jury proceeded in December 2014. The testimony received at trial revealed the following material facts. On the evening of June 24, 2014, Esther Finkelstein was at home alone in her apartment on Los Feliz Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles. The apartment building has about 20 units, each of which faces the front of the property where there is a courtyard. An alley runs along the back of the building. There are electrical utility boxes that “jutt[]” out at the back of the building, and the window of Ms. Finklestein’s bathroom is just above those boxes. Ms. Finkelstein was sitting on her bed answering emails. Around 8:00 p.m., she heard a “clattering” or “banging” noise coming from her bathroom. It sounded like a window screen falling to the ground. From her bed, she could see her bathroom and she saw that a man was trying to climb through the window. The lower part of his leg was coming through the window, with his foot on the window sill. She could see the rest of the man’s body, hunched over, through the frosted glass of the closed portion of the window. Ms. Finkelstein shouted at the man to get away, and he immediately jumped down from the window. She went to grab a knife from her kitchen, and when she turned back to the bathroom, the man was gone. Ms. Finkelstein called 911. She then noticed that the man was pacing back and forth in the alley behind her building. Ms. Finkelstein called her apartment manager to report that someone was trying to break in and that she had phoned the police. Shortly thereafter, she saw the man in front of the apartment building, leaning on the railing near her apartment.