Martinez

Defendant was charged in an information with burglary in violation of Penal Code section 459. The information also alleged that defendant had suffered one prior conviction and had served a term for that offense less than five years before the filing of the information. Trial by jury commenced on December 5, 1978. On December 8, the jury found defendant guilty of burglary in the second degree.

Defendant was denied probation and sentenced to state prison for the upper base term of three years. The prior felony conviction was stricken on the ground that a commitment to the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) did not qualify as a “prior prison term” within the meaning of Penal Code section 667.5. Defendant received credit for 140 days previously spent in custody.

The People appeal from the order striking the prior felony conviction.

Defendant appeals from the judgment convicting him of burglary and sentencing him to the upper term of imprisonment.

I

Factual Background

Waldo E. Wolfe lived in a frame tract house on Veronica Springs Road in Santa Barbara. Because the house was surrounded by foliage and was lower than street level, it was not visible from the street.…