People v. Pelton CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2024, a jury convicted appellant Sean Michael Pelton of grand theft of catalytic converters belonging to AT&T (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (a);1 count 1). The jury also convicted appellant of attempted grand theft of catalytic converters also belonging to AT&T (§§ 664, 487, subd. (a); count 2). Appellant was sentenced to county jail for three years four months. At the time of these convictions, appellant was already serving a sentence stemming from a criminal judgment imposed against him in Amador County Superior Court (case No. 21-CR-30403-01). The sentencing court in this matter consolidated appellant’s judgment so that he received an aggregate term of 14 years. Appellant was ordered to serve 10 years in local jail custody, with the remaining four years on mandatory supervised release.2 Appellant’s opening brief raises a single issue. He contends the trial court in this matter erred when it permitted the jury to hear about two prior convictions in which he stole catalytic converters from AT&T. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion, and any presumed error is harmless. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Appellant represented himself at this trial. He presented…