People v. Commandor CA4/1

Filed 1/27/23 P. v. Commandor CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D080232

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCS312012)

BRIAN COMMANDOR,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Enrique E. Camarena, Judge. Affirmed. Elisabeth A. Bowman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. A jury convicted Brian Commandor of importation of a controlled substance (Health and Saf. Code, § 11379, subd. (a)) and of possession for sale of a controlled substance (Health and Saf. Code, § 11378). Commandor admitted a strike prior (Pen. Code, § 667, subds. (b)-(i)). Commandor’s motion to strike the prior was denied and he was sentenced to a determinate term of seven years in prison.

Commandor filed a timely notice of appeal. Appellate counsel has filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende) indicating counsel has not been able to identify any arguable issues for reversal on appeal. Counsel asks the court to review the record for error as mandated by Wende. We offered Commandor the opportunity to file his own brief on appeal, but he has not responded. STATEMENT OF FACTS Appellate counsel has set forth an accurate summary of the evidence in the opening brief. We will adopt that statement of facts in this opinion for convenience. Officer Jose Guerrero has been with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for almost 10 years and is currently a supervisor at the K-9 unit. Guerrero was a K-9 officer for six years. On November 27, 2019, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Guerrero was on duty as a K-9 officer with Customs and Border Protection at the San Ysidro Port of Entry pedestrian lane in San Diego County. He was working with the K-9 named Maca. While he was working, Guerrero interacted with Commandor. As Commandor approached, Maca displayed a change in behavior; her tail started wagging, her respiration increased, she made contact with the wheelchair, put her nose on the pillow, and sat down. That indicated to Guerrero that Maca was as close as possible to narcotics. Guerrero, Maca, and Commandor went into secondary where Guerrero notified the officers that he had an alert to the pillow in the wheelchair. Thereafter, Guerrero had no further contact with Commandor. Officer Christian Fernandez has been a Customs and Border Protection officer at the San Ysidro Port of Entry since January 3, 2018. On November 27, 2019, at about 9:30 p.m., Fernandez was assigned to screen Commandor