The People v. Coneal CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In the early morning of November 3, 2009, defendant burglarized a townhouse on Cypress Point Court in San Jose. At the time, John Kapelowitz and Diane Roberge lived in the house and were sleeping in separate bedrooms on the second floor. Roberge awoke when she felt someone bump the side of her bed. She looked up and saw defendant crouched on the opposite side of her bed with just the top of his head visible. Realizing a stranger was in her room, Roberge began screaming as loud as she could and defendant put his hands out, motioned, and said “don’t scream.” Defendant then bent down, picked up something Roberge later confirmed was her laptop, and fled. Kapelowitz woke up at the sound of Roberge’s screaming and quickly went to Roberge’s room. After calling the police, Kapelowitz surveyed the townhouse to see what was missing. He discovered his laptop computer and its case were missing, as well as his Blackberry cellular phone and Roberge’s laptop. He also noticed one black glove that he did not recognize near the stairs on the first floor. Meanwhile, San Jose Police Department Officer Steven Valentine was responding to another call in the…