People v. Castro CA2/8

Filed 8/14/20 P. v. Castro CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B300154

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KA118463) v.

ROBERTO VERDUGO CASTRO,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Steven D. Blades, Judge. Affirmed. David Y. Stanley, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Zee Rodriguez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Christopher G. Sanchez, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

Roberto Verdugo Castro challenges his conviction under Vehicle Code section 2800.2. He argues there was insufficient evidence he drove with willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property while fleeing pursuing police officers. We affirm. I A jury convicted Castro of eight crimes. Castro challenges his conviction for felony evading. We summarize the facts leading to this conviction. On June 20, 2018, two Los Angeles deputy sheriffs drove a marked police car during a routine patrol. They saw Castro drive a blue car with paper plates over a double yellow line into oncoming traffic. Castro then ran a red light and nearly hit a van. He crossed back over the double yellow line and made a high-speed turn. The officers turned on the red lights on top of the patrol car to make a traffic stop. Castro did not stop. He made another turn and accelerated. He drove at about 50 miles per hour, which was faster than the flow of traffic. He drove onto the center median to pass other cars. The officers then turned on all their lights and sirens, but Castro continued to drive at a high speed. The officers lost sight of Castro after he turned onto another street. They pulled onto the street and saw Castro had crashed into a brick wall. There was major damage to the front of the car and the airbags had deployed. The windows were broken. The distance from where the officers first turned on the red lights to where Castro’s car crashed was about three quarters of a mile. The officers got behind Castro’s car and detained Castro at