Rodriguez

A jury convicted defendant and appellant Ralph Rodriguez (appellant) of first degree burglary under Penal Code section 459. Following a separate nonjury trial on appellant’s prior criminal record, the trial court found that appellant had two prior Texas convictions for burglary—one in 1974 and the second in 1992—a prior Texas conviction for attempted burglary in 1989, a prior Texas conviction for robbery in 1976, and that all four prior convictions qualified for purposes of sentencing enhancements as serious felonies under sections 667 and 1170.12, and as defined by section 1192.7, subdivision (c). The trial court denied appellant’s motion to strike three of the four prior felony convictions and sentenced appellant to serve 25 years to life for the California burglary offense, plus 5 consecutive years for each of the four prior Texas felony convictions, for a total sentence of 45 years to life.

Appellant challenges the trial court’s findings concerning the prior felony convictions and the sentences imposed for those convictions, contending that the evidence was insufficient to prove that each of the prior offenses is a serious felony under California law. We hold that…