PEOPLE v. VINSON









Filed 3/28/11







CERTIFIED FOR PARTIAL PUBLICATION^*
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DAVID MICHAEL VINSON, Defendant and Appellant.

F059302 (Super. Ct. No. BF127977A) OPINION

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County. David R. Lampe, Judge.
Alex Coolman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Kamala D. Harris, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Carlos A. Martinez, Jamie A. Scheidegger, and Catherine Tennant Nieto, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo-
David Michael Vinson stands convicted, following a jury trial, of committing petty theft after having previously been convicted of a theft offense. (Pen. Code,^[1] § 666.) Following a bifurcated court trial, he was found to have served two prior prison terms. (§ 667.5, subd. (b).) Sentenced to a total of five years in prison and ordered to pay various fees and fines, he now appeals. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude the amendment to section 666 that became effective on September 9, 2010, applies retroactively. In the unpublished portion, we reject Vinson's claims of insufficient evidence, and trial and sentencing error.
FACTS^*
On May 23, 2009, Teresa Williams participated in a sporting event at the Rollerama in Bakersfield. At about 11:00 p.m., she and some friends went across the street to the Buckhorn, a bar with a pool table. Williams, who was preparing to play pool with Vinson, put her purse down on a table within arm's reach behind herself. As she bent over to rack the balls, Vinson hurriedly walked toward the men's bathroom, which was about six feet from the table.
Around this time, David Zulaica, one of Williams's friends, went into the men's room (a small, one-person arrangement) and noticed a red purse in the sink. While Zulaica was inside, Vinson entered, excused himself, and went right back out. When Zulaica exited the bathroom, Vinson was waiting outside and entered immediately. Zulaica started asking around and learned the purse belonged to Williams. Zulaica offered to retrieve it as soon as the bathroom was not in use.
Zulaica kept an eye on the bathroom, as he wanted to make sure he got in there right away. Nobody went in or out until Vinson exited after about five to 10 minutes. Zulaica then went in and looked for the purse. He eventually found it underneath the trash bag inside the trash can. He took it to Williams, and she identified it as hers. Upon opening it, she discovered that her two lipsticks were still inside, but everything else was missing: two credit cards, an I.D., a cell phone, and around $150 in cash that was predominantly folded together.^[2] Williams never gave anyone permission to take her purse or to take anything out of it. During the time she was racking the pool balls and Vinson was walking to the men's bathroom, nobody else came behind Williams or got near the table with the purse. Had anybody gone into the bathroom area, Williams would have been able to see their path. Nobody traveled that path other than Vinson and, later, Zulaica.
Williams, Zulaica, and some friends went outside to confront Vinson, who was in the alley by the exit. Words were exchanged, and someone called the police. When the police arrived, Vinson quickly tried to leave the scene by going down the alley. Upon arriving at the Buckhorn, Bakersfield Police Officer Cooper and another officer saw a group of females standing outside. As soon as the officers walked up, one of the women said, â€