Taylor

Frederick Douglas Taylor was charged with the unlawful taking of an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851), receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496) and possession of a loaded firearm in public (Pen. Code, § 12031, subd. (a)). Following a court trial, he was found guilty of the weapon charge and joyriding (Pen. Code, § 499b) as a lesser included offense of Vehicle Code section 10851. He argues the court erred in failing to suppress evidence, joyriding is not a lesser included offense of Vehicle Code section 10851, and the evidence does not support the weapon conviction. We disagree and affirm.

Taylor obtained the keys to his girlfriend’s father’s car and, without the father’s knowledge or permission, took it. After the father found the car missing, and his daughter denied knowledge of its whereabouts, he filed a theft report with the police.

The next day police spotted the car, occupied by two males, at a shopping mall and a high speed chase ensued. Minutes after the car sped away, police saw a gun thrown from the passenger window into bushes. Following sev eral loops of the mall, the car entered a freeway where it was lost from sight by the pursuing police. The car was…