People v. Griffin CA3

Filed 7/19/21 P. v. Griffin CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (Butte) ----

THE PEOPLE, C091264

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. CM040725)

v.

JENNIFER LEE GRIFFIN,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Jennifer Lee Griffin appeals her felony sentence for unlawfully taking or driving a vehicle. (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a).)1 She contends that the factual basis for her guilty plea does not justify a felony conviction after Proposition 47, which changed certain theft crimes to misdemeanors. We find her plea still supports a felony sentence and affirm the judgment.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Vehicle Code.

1

BACKGROUND We take the facts of this case from the probation report, stipulated to by the parties to serve as the factual basis for defendant’s plea. In January 2014, police found defendant sitting in the driver seat of a stolen car at a convenience store in Gridley, California. The ignition had a household lock type of key instead of the car’s ignition key and the car was stripped of its radio. Police arrested defendant and told her the car was reported stolen, to which she replied, “ ‘I didn’t steal it my friend, [Donald Browning], was the one who had it.’ ” The officer then located drugs and drug paraphernalia in the car along with male and female clothing. Defendant later told police her boyfriend, Browning, picked her up in the car in Vallejo the day before her arrest, and they drove to Oroville. While in Oroville, defendant learned her mother died, and Browning agreed to drive her to Eureka to attend the funeral. They drove to Gridley to get gas, where Browning temporarily left defendant with the car. Defendant drove to a convenience store to get food and a drink, where she was then confronted by police. Defendant also told police she did not steal the vehicle, and she did not originally know it was stolen, “but accepts responsibility for her actions because she ‘had a gut-feeling that the car was stolen.’ She reported, ‘I knew he was a car thief.’ ” Defendant was charged with felony unlawful driving or taking a vehicle (§ 10851, subd. (a)), felony possession of a controlled substance (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a)), misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia (Health & Saf. Code, § 11364.1, subd. (a)(1)), and misdemeanor possession of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11357, subd. (c)). On October 15, 2014, defendant pleaded guilty to unlawful driving or taking a vehicle, and the court dismissed the other counts with a waiver pursuant to People v. Harvey (1979) 25 Cal.3d 754. On December 17, 2014, the court found a factual basis for