People v. Hidalgo CA2/4

BACKGROUND

Because the evidence supporting defendant’s convictions is not relevant to the issues on appeal, we only briefly summarize it. Defendant lived in an apartment building a few hundred feet away from the apartment on Victory Boulevard in which Graciela Lara lived with her one-year-old daughter. On May 19, 2011, Lara heard a knock on her door. She did not answer. After she heard two more knocks, she went to the door, but no one was there. As she walked back to the bedroom, she heard the window opening. She opened the curtains and observed defendant with his hands on the open window and window sill. The window screen had been removed. Lara screamed, closed the window, and called 911. Defendant fled. Lara participated in the drawing of a composite sketch of the burglar, and on May 26, 2011, identified defendant’s photograph in a photo lineup.

1 Undesignated section references are to the Penal Code.

2 In a search of defendant’s apartment, Los Angeles Police Officer Christopher Hookstra recovered a glass pipe containing methamphetamine residue. After his arrest, defendant told Officer Hookstra that he passed by Lara’s apartment and looked in through the bedroom window. Had…