Trausch

The People appeal the decision of the trial court to sentence Michael Joseph Trausch to county jail after he plead guilty to second degree burglary (Pen. Code, § 459), “a wobbler,” and admitted prior convictions which qualify as “strikes” under the “three strikes” law, section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i). The People contend that because the three strikes law applied to the situation the court was without authority to reduce the burglary conviction to a misdemeanor and avoid the three strikes sentencing scheme. We disagree and affirm.

Factual and Procedural Summary

The record reflects that on June 7, 1994, around 7:30 a.m., Trausch, apparently a transient, broke a window of the closed Patticakes Bakery in Altadena and took a chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries. Shortly afterward he was apprehended. When he committed this act, he was on probation in case No. GA001931 (People v. Trausch (Super. Ct. L.A. County, 1990)) for conviction of burglary in 1990. In that case, he had been sentenced to six years in state prison, but the court stayed imposition of sentence and placed him on probation.

In the instant case, Trausch was charged with felony second degree…