People v. Stiles, E040964 (Cal. App. 5/10/2007)
| Decision Date | 10 May 2007 |
| Docket Number | E040964 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. BRUCE EDWARD STILES, Defendant and Appellant. |
Appeal from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, No. FSB054865, Kenneth Barr, Judge. Affirmed; modified in part.
Stephen M. Hinkle, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Peter Quon, Jr., Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Pat Zaharopoulos, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendant Bruce Edward Stiles appeals his conviction of three arson-related charges with associated enhancements. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction on two counts; (2) the one-year concurrent enhancement for one prison prior must be stricken because the underlying prison term was served concurrently with the term for another prison prior; (3) the trial court's finding of identity in defendant's prior convictions deprived defendant of his right to trial by jury on the prior convictions; and (4) his sentence for attempted arson should be reduced to the middle term because the trial court imposed the aggravated term on the basis of facts not found by the jury. We agree with defendant's contention that the concurrent enhancement for a prison prior must be stricken. We find no other errors.
Defendant and Rudolph Magana had known one another since 1991 or 1992. In January or February 2005, defendant stayed at Magana's house a few days. On one occasion, defendant refused to leave when Magana requested him to. Defendant said, "`he didn't have to go anywhere and he could go anywhere he wanted.'"
Around November 5, 2005, Magana vacated his house in order to renovate it. On November 12, defendant came to the house where Magana was working. Magana asked him to leave, but he refused. Magana and defendant got into a fight during which defendant punched Magana in the face. A friend of Magana broke up the fight, and defendant left after stating to Magana something like, "It is not over yet" and that he would be back.
On November 20, Anthony Aldrete, a neighbor of Magana, saw a bottle burning on the side of Magana's house at 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. Aldrete put the fire out with a fire extinguisher. He did not see anyone in the area. Patricia Fea, an arson investigator, determined that two Molotov cocktails had been involved, but that one had failed to ignite. One of the Molotov cocktails was intact; it consisted of paint thinner in an Old Forester bourbon bottle. Fea also found a lighter on the street near the curb. No usable fingerprints were recovered from the bottle.
About 5:00 that same afternoon, Aldrete noticed a mid-sized white pickup truck parked in front of Magana's garage. A person threw a liquid substance towards the garage door, and the pickup truck drove away. A short time later, the garage went up in flames. At trial, Aldrete testified he had been too far away to tell whether the person was a man or woman. A fire investigator testified, however, that Aldrete had stated at the scene that the person in the truck appeared to be a White male who was not wearing a shirt. Aldrete had also told the investigator that the man had been driving a newer model white Nissan Frontier extra-cab pickup truck. Fea determined that the fire had started at the garage door and had been intentionally set using an accelerant. The fire caused structural damage to the garage and destroyed all its contents.
That same day, Diane Braun had been visiting a friend, Terry Arceneaux, at his apartment when defendant came by to collect a $20 debt and to retrieve a shotgun. Arceneaux told defendant he did not have the $20 and he had sold the shotgun. Defendant became angry. Braun asked Arceneaux to purchase some groceries for her. Arceneaux and defendant left at 2:30 p.m. and defendant returned by himself at about 3:35 p.m.
Defendant walked to the back of the apartment complex carrying an ice chest. Braun asked what he was doing, and defendant replied, "`anything he want[ed].'" Defendant carried in Braun's groceries and then left. He returned a few minutes later and went to the back of the apartment complex before again leaving. A short time later, a fire broke out at the back of the apartment complex. Detective Lance Stewart found gasoline inside a partially burnt cooler, and it appeared the fire had started at the cooler. An investigator was unable to lift any useable fingerprints from the cooler.
Braun testified that defendant drank hard liquor, including bourbon and vodka, and that defendant's favorite brands of bourbon were Wild Turkey and Jim Beam.
Around 10:30 p.m. on November 29, William Beaumont, a fire investigator with the San Bernardino Fire Department, was called to a fire at Magana's house. The fire, which burned some shrubbery, had been started by a Molotov cocktail, consisting of a Wild Turkey bottle containing gasoline and a cloth wick. No useable fingerprints could be lifted from the bottle.
Defendant's fiancée, Tamara Harbicht, testified she owned a silver Honda Element, and she had purchased a white Nissan Frontier pickup truck for defendant to use. Defendant also sometimes drove the Honda Element. Defendant worked as a house painter, and he used paint thinner to clean his brushes. He carried brushes and paint thinner in the pickup truck and in the Honda Element. Harbicht kept a gasoline container in the Honda Element, and she had some river rocks in the car to be used for landscaping.
Captain John Payan of the San Bernardino Fire Department set up a surveillance at Magana's house with Investigator Mike Koster at about 9:00 p.m. on November 30. When Captain Payan arrived at the house, he noticed a strong odor of gasoline coming from the front (the west side) of the house. He walked around the house, but he did not see any gasoline cans. Several windows on the north side of the house were boarded up, but the bathroom window was intact.
About 11:00 p.m., Captain Payan saw a silver Honda Element pull up in front of Magana's house and park facing traffic. The headlights were turned off, but the parking lights were left on. A White man about six feet tall1 got out of the car, walked to the north side of the property, and returned a minute later. Captain Payan could not tell if the man was carrying anything. When the man returned to the Honda Element, Captain Payan pulled his car up with his bright lights and red flashing grill lights on to block the man from leaving, but the man drove over the curb and sped away.
Captain Payan and Investigator Koster gave chase to the Honda Element, which drove erratically at a high rate of speed. The California Highway Patrol joined the pursuit, and the driver of the Honda Element, defendant, eventually yielded and pulled over. Captain Payan and Investigator Koster recovered two lighters from defendant's pockets and a partially full gasoline container, a glass jar, a gray bandanna containing residue of a medium petroleum distillate such as paint thinner, and a river rock from inside the Honda Element.
The next day, Captain Payan found two river rocks, similar to the one found in the Honda Element, on the north side of Magana's house, near the bathroom window, which was broken. Captain Payan smelled gasoline near the bathroom window. Investigator Koster discovered a green watering can that smelled strongly of gasoline in the area where Captain Payan had noticed the odor of gasoline the night before. A sample of liquid from the watering can was found to contain gasoline and a medium petroleum distillate such as that found on the grey bandanna.
Magana's house was about three miles, or a seven to nine minute drive, from Arceneaux's apartment.
Defendant was charged with seven counts of arson and arson-related charges in connection with the fires at Magana's house and behind Braun's apartment complex. He was convicted of arson of a structure in connection with the November 20 fire at Magana's garage (count 4) (Pen. Code,2 § 451, subd. (c); arson of property in connection with the incident at Braun's apartment complex on November 20 (count 5) (§ 451, subd. (d)); and attempt to burn in connection with the incident at Magana's house on November 30 (count 1) (§ 455). The jury found him not guilty of possession of or attempt to use a destructive device to injure or destroy (§ 12303.3) on November 29 as alleged in counts 2 and 6, and arson of property (§ 451, subd. (d)) on November 20 and 29, as alleged in counts 3 and 7. The jury found true the allegations that defendant had suffered five prison priors.
The trial court sentenced defendant to the aggravated term of six years for count 4, a consecutive eight months (one-third the middle term) for count 1, and a consecutive eight months (one-third the middle term) for count 5. The court further sentenced defendant to a consecutive four years (one year each for four of the prison priors) and to a concurrent one year for the fifth prison prior.
Defendant contends the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions in counts 1 and 4.
In reviewing a claim of insufficiency of the evidence, this court examines the entire record in the light most favorable to the judgment and determines whether it contains substantial evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid value, such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. (Jackson v. Virginia (1979) 443 U.S. 307, 319; People v. Lewis (2001) 25 Cal.4th 610, 642.) We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment, and we presume in support of the judgment...
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