See

*79 Opinion

Charles Vernon See appeals his sentence after pleading guilty to second degree burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460) and unlawful driving or taking an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851). See was sentenced to prison for consecutive terms, the middle term of two years for the burglary and eight months for the auto theft.

See and another person broke into a business office and stole several thousand dollars worth of office equipment. They removed the stolen items in a friend’s car. They “hot-wired” a truck and returned to the office building to remove a safe they had seen but could not remove by car. When they later opened the safe and found only papers, they abandoned the truck and safe.

The probation report said items found in the apartment where See had been staying “seemed to tie in with” another burglary of the same office and businesses adjacent to it which had been burglarized the same month.

At sentencing the judge said, “And then we have here, essentially, four burglaries plus the stolen car.... Counsel, in my view we have four burglaries. With that record, the man has earned himself time in state prison.”

See had originally been charged with five counts of…

I respectfully dissent.

The amended complaint charged See with one count of burglary committed on September 30 and a second count of auto (truck) theft occurring on the same day. The evidence taken at the change of plea hearing discloses two separate entries into the burgled commercial premises.

In admitting the facts of the burglary and auto theft charges, this colloquoy took place: “The Court: Let’s proceed. Very well. All right. Mr. See, you wish to enter a plea of guilty to counts 1 and 3, which is violation of Penal Code 459 and Vehicle Code 10851; is that correct?

Mr. See made a full statement to the police that he drove that vehicle to the Honeywell Corporation and loaded up the items of office equipment and transported them back to the El Cajon area.

From See’s plea, it is impossible to ascertain whether any items were removed before See left to steal the vehicle to transport the loot. The probation officer’s report, however, recites such a sequence of events. But from the plea itself, the theft of the truck and the burglary charged and pled to are inextricably woven into a single transaction. From the face of See’s confession in open court, the truck was stolen for…

COLOGNE, Acting P.J.

Charles Vernon See appeals his sentence after pleading guilty to second degree burglary (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460) and unlawful driving or taking an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851). See was sentenced to prison for consecutive terms, the middle term of two years for the burglary and eight months for the auto theft.

See and another person broke into a business office and stole several thousand dollars worth of office equipment. They removed the stolen items in a friend's car. They "hot-wired" a truck and returned to the office building to remove a safe they had seen but could not remove by car. When they later opened the safe and found only papers, they abandoned the truck and safe.

The probation report said items found in the apartment where See had been staying "seemed to tie in with" another burglary of the same office and businesses adjacent to it which had been burglarized the same month.

At sentencing the judge said, "And then we have here, essentially, four burglaries plus the stolen car.... Counsel, in my view we have four burglaries. With that record, the man has earned himself time in state prison."

See had originally been charged with five…