Bruno

In this appeal we hold that the same prior conviction charged as an element of the felony of petit theft with a prior conviction may also serve as the basis for an enhancement of the sentence for that crime under Penal Code section 667.5, subdivision (b).

Defendant pled guilty to a charge of petit theft having previously been convicted on July 9, 1980, in Sacramento Superior Court of burglary for which he served a term “in a penal institution and [was] imprisoned therein as a condition of probation____” (Pen. Code, § 666; all further references to sections of an unspecified code are to the Pen. Code.) Defendant admitted service of two prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)), one of which was for a burglary conviction allegedly incurred on July 9, 1980, in Sacramento Superior Court. The court sentenced defendant to the three-year upper term and imposed consecutive one-year enhancements for each of the prior prison terms for a total term of five years.

It is not disputed that the substantive charge and one of the enhancements allege the identical burglary conviction. On appeal defendant contends the enhancement for his prior burglary prison term should be stricken because…