People v. Sellers CA3

BACKGROUND

In November 2022, Earl T. and Tracy B. were living in Lodi, California. On their property there was a shop as well as an apartment. Earl and Tracy were in the process of moving, so they borrowed a flatbed car trailer from a friend. They kept the trailer on their property. On November 17, 2022, Shane D. and Sellers came to Earl and Tracy’s; they smoked methamphetamine with Tracy and another person. The following day, sometime between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m., as Tracy walked from the shop to the apartment, she heard a loud crash. She ran outside and saw a truck towing away the trailer, “fishtailing” as it sped away. Earl also heard the loud noise. By the time he was outside, he saw the truck driving away with the trailer attached to it. Earl immediately called 911. Around 4:50 a.m. that same morning, Lodi Police Officer Branden Honeycutt was on patrol when he heard on his radio that a flatbed trailer had just been stolen from the area of Earl and Tracy’s home. Officer Honeycutt started driving toward the location. When he was one street away from Earl and Tracy’s street, he saw a flatbed trailer that matched the description broadcast on the radio, being pulled by a pickup…