Carrasco

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Ernest Joseph Carrasco (appellant) challenges his convictions of attempted arson and two counts of resisting an executive officer. He contends (1) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for attempted arson; (2) the trial court should have instructed the jury on the lesser included offense of resisting a peace officer; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant posttrial access to juror information and by denying his motion to dismiss a “Three Strikes” allegation, remanded for resentencing. We affirm his conviction with a limited remand for sentencing.

BACKGROUND

One morning in May 2005, appellant approached the Pico Rivera sheriff’s station and asked if anyone had change for a dollar. Repeating his question to Deputy Raul Macias, who was at the front desk, appellant asked, “Do you have change, bitch?” Macias told appellant he needed to leave the station, but *982 appellant continued to press for change. After Macias again told him to move on, appellant slowly backed away from the door, continuing to act bizarrely and staring at Macias as if “trying to intimidate” him. About 30 seconds later,…

Dissenting. — I respectfully dissent.

The operative effect of the trial court’s denial of the request for juror information was to foreclose the defense from interviewing Juror No. 2. While the majority is correct in noting that defense counsel could have but did not suggest to the trial court additional lines of inquiry, I think that such a suggestion would have been an idle act; the trial court showed no inclination to allow the defense to question this juror. During the court’s questioning, defense counsel asked if the defense would be “allowed to inquire at all” and the trial court said no, i.e., not at “this point in time.” When the defense eventually did make clear that it wished to interview Juror No. 2, the denial of the request for juror information put an end to this endeavor. The trial court’s ruling denying the request for juror information prevented the defense from ascertaining whether there was any factual basis to contend, in a motion for new trial, that this juror did not actually believe that appellant was guilty.

Given that the standard is whether the trial court abused its discretion, I think that it is a close question whether the request for juror…

Defendant and appellant Ernest Joseph Carrasco (appellant) challenges his convictions of attempted arson and two counts of resisting an executive officer. He contends (1) there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for attempted arson; (2) the trial court should have instructed the jury on the lesser included offense of resisting a peace officer; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant posttrial access to juror information and by denying his motion to dismiss a "Three Strikes" allegation, remanded for resentencing. We affirm his conviction with a limited remand for sentencing.

One morning in May 2005, appellant approached the Pico Rivera sheriff's station and asked if anyone had change for a dollar. Repeating his question to Deputy Raul Macias, who was at the front desk, appellant asked, "Do you have change, bitch?" Macias told appellant he needed to leave the station, but appellant continued to press for change. After Macias again told him to move on, appellant slowly backed away from the door, continuing to act bizarrely and staring at Macias as if "trying to intimidate" him. About 30 seconds later, appellant returned holding a…