People v. Edwardo V.

Opinion

CROSBY, Acting P. J. J.The juvenile court found Edwardo V. committed a first degree residential burglary. The minor contends the garage he burgled was not an inhabited dwelling within the meaning of Penal Code section 460. We disagree and affirm.

I

David Flournoy occupied one residence in a duplex in Newport Beach. The garage was located at the rear of the structure and shared the roof and one wall with it. The tenants shared the garage, but neither had direct access to it from their respective dwellings. It could only be entered through the exterior door.

About 2:30 p.m. on June 18, 1997, Flournoy opened the garage door, but returned briefly to his home for a snack before leaving. He saw two males [593]ride past on bicycles and minutes later heard a loud crash in the garage. He investigated and discovered three bicycles owned by his upstairs neighbors were missing. Two other bicycles were on the garage floor. Flournoy identified them as the ones he had just seen ridden past the duplex.

Later that afternoon a mail carrier saw two youths matching a police description of the suspects. Officers apprehended and detained the two individuals. Flournoy was transported to the scene and identified the minor, his companion, and the three missing bicycles in their possession.1 No one in the duplex gave the minor permission to enter the garage or take the bicycles.

The minor testified he took a bus to the beach and met two friends who were riding bicycles. Later that afternoon he encountered one of the youths. He gave the minor a bike with a flat tire and asked him to help transport it. Moments later the police arrived and detained them.

II

Edwardo challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to establish a first degree burglary, claiming the garage was not an “inhabited dwelling house.” (Pen. Code, § 460.) Pursuant to Penal Code section 460, a burglary of an inhabited dwelling house is first degree burglary. Over the years, the precise meaning of the term “inhabited dwelling house” has been the subject of considerable judicial scrutiny.

The minor concedes, “the individual apartments in [a multi-unit] building are dwelling houses,” but argues, “the building as a whole is not.” This is not that case, though. People v. Moreno (1984) 158 Cal.App.3d 109 [204 Cal.Rptr. 17] is more instructive. There, the defendant was convicted of the burglary of a garage attached to a house with a common roof, accessible only through an exterior entrance. The Court of Appeal concluded the garage was part of “an inhabited dwelling” even though the structure lacked an internal connecting door leading into the house: “[A] connecting door [is] only one method of demonstrating that a garage was an attached and integral