People v. Buchwitz CA2/3

Filed 8/2/16 P. v. Buchwitz CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THREE

THE PEOPLE, B264571

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA420380) v.

RANDY BUCHWITZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Leslie A. Swain, Judge. Modified and, as modified, affirmed. Jonathan P. Milberg, 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, Steven D. Matthews and Rama R. Maline, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _________________________

A jury found defendant and appellant Randy Buchwitz guilty of manufacturing a controlled substance other than PCP and of recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences. Buchwitz appeals the judgment, contending Penal Code section 654 precluded the consecutive sentences. We agree. We therefore modify the judgment and affirm it as modified. BACKGROUND I. Factual background On January 15, 2014, Buchwitz, who was with a woman, rented Room 48 on the second floor of the Galaxy Motel. About 6:00 p.m., tenant Timothy Star complained about something coming into his room. Another tenant, Leslie Jenei, was in Room 49, which shared a wall with Room 48. Jenei heard an explosion and saw a “flash of light” “like a big flame.” Smoke came out of Jenei’s wall heater, and he smelled a “very strong chemical odor.” He knocked on Room 48’s door. A woman answered and said everyone was ok. But Jenei heard a man near the bathroom say he’d burnt his face. A few minutes later, the man and woman left “very fast” in a dark pickup truck. Larry Argo heard the explosion and saw flames shoot from the bathroom window. On his way to the room, Argo ran into the motel’s owner, Ramesh Patel. Patel opened the door to Room 48, which was full of smoke. Smoke and flames were coming from the closet, so Argo and Patel got a hose and put the fire out. There was a man in the bathroom who “scrambled around in there for a little bit trying to put the flames out.” Room 48 suffered fire damage. In the room, police officers found a Dole pineapple bottle containing marijuana and butane cans. Star gave an officer a plastic bag of “shake,” which is leftover, broken down marijuana. According to Officer Michael Saragueta, the damage in Room 48 was consistent with damage that can be caused in a butane honey oil lab. “Butane honey oil” refers to a method of extracting concentrated cannabis from marijuana using butane. A solvent (here, butane) is used to extract tetrahydro cannabinol (THC), the chemical in marijuana that “gives you the high.” Marijuana is put into a vessel, usually a tube with a large