Vega

Appellant, Raul Santoya Vega, appeals his conviction of robbery, vehicle theft, and kidnapping. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the robbery conviction, the propriety of conviction and punishment for both robbery and vehicle theft based upon the same course of conduct, and the correctness of two jury instructions, CALJIC No. 2.71 and CALJIC No. 2.52.

Statement of the Case

The People charged appellant and his codefendant, Micaela Alvarez Vega, jointly with robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) (count 1), vehicle theft (Veh. Code, § 10851) (count 2) and kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a)) (count 3). A jury convicted appellant of all three counts and his codefendant of vehicle theft. Appellant received a prison term of six years, as follows: the middle term of five years for kidnapping; one-third of the middle term of three years for robbery, to run consecutively pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.1, subdivision (a); and the middle term of two years for vehicle theft, stayed pursuant to Penal Code section 654.

Statement of Facts

On the afternoon of August 17, 1988, a woman approached Simona Perez in a parking lot near the Fulton Mall in downtown…