Plager

—A jury found defendant guilty of attempted robbery. Subsequently he admitted two prior serious felony (residential burglary) convictions. He appeals from the judgment.

Facts

At 9 p.m. Nellie Lira and Linda Lucero were doing their laundry in a laundromat when defendant entered, examined a row of washing machines and left; a minute later he returned, approached Lira from behind and pulled back her hair. As Lira began to scream, he put a knife to her throat and his other hand over her mouth; she felt the point of the knife sticking in her neck and was very frightened; his hand was calloused and smelled of cigarette smoke. Defendant demanded her money and, as she reached into her back pocket for her change, Lucero, who had been watching defendant, walked forward and said she had $10; he ordered her not to come any closer or move; at the sound of a door opening in the bar next door, defendant released Lira and fled.

At the laundromat Deputy Digby took a report from the two women; he received a description of a white male between 25 and 30 years of age, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall, thin, of dirty appearance and smelling of cigarette smoke. A week later he…