P. v. Lopez
Filed 4/3/06 P. v. Lopez CA5
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CARLOS MARCOS LOPEZ, Defendant and Appellant. |
F047215
(Super. Ct. No. BF107225)
O P I N I O N |
THE COURT*
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County. Clarence Westra, Jr., Judge.
Elisa A. Brandes, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Stan Cross and J. Robert Jibson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo-
A jury convicted appellant, Carlos Marcos Lopez, on one count each of arson (Pen. Code, § 451, subd. (c)) and possession of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code,
§ 11377, subd. (a)). On January 14, 2005, the court sentenced Lopez to the aggravated term of six years on his arson conviction and a concurrent three-year term on his possession conviction. On appeal, Lopez contends: 1) the court committed instructional error; and 2) the court erred in imposing the aggravated term on his arson conviction. We affirm.
FACTS
The prosecution evidence established that on August 4, 2004, someone set fire to an L-shaped structure in Bakersfield that consisted of a vacant two-story warehouse and a one-story strip mall. Lopez was detained soon after the fire started when he was seen exiting a burning building by a sheriff's department helicopter pilot. During questioning, Lopez gave conflicting explanations of what he was doing inside the building. In one version he claimed that while he was in the southwest corner of the warehouse urinating he saw smoke coming out of an electric panel and a Hispanic man walking up the stairs. In another version he was relieving himself at the west side of the warehouse when a second male came up to him and asked him for a cigarette lighter. Although Lopez did not have a lighter, he saw one at his feet and gave it to the man who then started flicking it. At the end of the interview, Lopez stated that he was the one who flicked the lighter, that the lighter sparked and ignited some papers, and that â€
