People v. Bingham CA1/4

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

On the morning of June 13, 2011, a Union City resident (the victim) woke up to find his car missing, and he reported it to the police. The following evening, around 6:30 p.m., a motorist driving a different car was hit from behind by a person driving the

1 victim’s stolen car. The driver of the stolen car drove off, and the motorist who had been hit followed the stolen car and called 911. While on the phone with 911, the motorist saw a man (who the motorist identified as Bingham both before and at trial) get out of the car, retrieve a backpack from the trunk, and walk away, abandoning the vehicle in the middle of the road. The man then dropped the backpack in a bush and fled the area on foot. Police responded and discovered that the abandoned car had been reported stolen by the victim the day before. Officers searched the car and found a receipt from a purchase made at a Fremont convenience store earlier on the day of the accident. The receipt revealed the last four digits of the card number used for the purchase. Officers went to the convenience store and viewed surveillance footage that corresponded to the time on the receipt. Using a…