People v. Greenlee CA2/4

BACKGROUND

I. Facts1

On December 21, 2001, a contractor was working at a house owned by Steve Williams, an acquaintance of appellant’s through appellant’s wife. The contractor saw appellant driving a small blue car, which appellant stopped in front of the house. As appellant spoke to a passerby, a man wearing a hoodie started walking up the house’s driveway, but then walked away. Appellant drove away. Soon, the man in the hoodie reappeared and asked the contractor when he could see Williams. When the contractor removed his safety glasses, the man sprayed the contractor’s face with a chemical spray can, pushed him to the ground, and struck his head and shoulders with the can. The man took a personal safe owned by Williams and entered the passenger side of a small blue car, which sped off. The car almost hit a nearby driver, who wrote down its license plate number and gave it to the police. The police determined the car was registered to appellant’s wife.

II. Conviction, Sentence, and Direct Appeal

A jury convicted appellant of first degree burglary (Pen. Code, § 459)2, assault with a deadly weapon—the metal can—by means likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd.…