The People v. Smith CA2/1

BACKGROUND

On November 25, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving, robbery victim Michael 2 Bush was walking to work westbound on the sidewalk along Jefferson Boulevard in Culver City. He was carrying a backpack, a cellular telephone in a case on his hip, a wallet in his back pocket, and an iPod in another pocket. He was wearing earphones because he was listening to music on his iPod. Between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., Bush noticed a “bright red” Pontiac car with two men inside traveling eastbound on Jefferson Boulevard in the lane closest to the sidewalk where Bush was walking. As the car drove by, the passenger, who was about 15 feet away from Bush, turned his whole body to face Bush and stared at Bush. At trial, Bush identified the passenger as defendant Smith. Bush continued walking westbound on Jefferson Boulevard. As he approached the intersection of Jefferson and Kinston Street, he saw the driver of the red car and Smith outside of the parked car. Smith was wearing a blue sweatshirt, blue hat and black pants. The driver was wearing “a Baldwin Park shirt” and “baby-bluish type pants.” It appeared to Bush that the driver was getting ready to walk across Kinston Street on Jefferson,…