Hatcher

Defendant was convicted of driving a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent (Veh. Code, § 10851) and found to have suffered three prior felony convictions as charged, each for theft of an automobile. He was denied probation and sentenced to state prison, sentence to run concurrently with any other uncompleted sentence. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction.

The evidence may be summarized as follows: On the evening of October 13 a resident of Needles reported to the Needles Police Department that his stationwagon was missing. The following morning Officer Cairns of the Highway Patrol received a report that a vehicle matching the description of the missing stationwagon had been seen abandoned about 5 miles west of the village of Essex (Essex is about 40 miles west of Needles). About 8 a.m. Cairns proceeded to the abandoned vehicle. En route he saw a man attired in a black and red mackinaw jacket and light blue, trousers walking on the highway near a combination grocery store and service station in Essex. When he reached the abandoned vehicle, Cairns ascertained that it was the missing stationwagon, checked the area and found “pointed footprints similar to…