In re I.J. CA2/6

Facts Jammy Banuelos saw appellant and an accomplice (the suspects) open the gate leading to the backyard of a house (the house). The house was across the street from Banuelos’s residence. After opening the gate, the suspects “disappeared.” Several minutes later, they exited the house through the front door. The suspects used a coat hanger in an unsuccessful attempt to open the door of a car parked in the house’s driveway. The suspects went back inside the house, exited holding car keys, and entered the car.2 They started the engine but could not drive the car because it had a flat tire. Banuelos testified that the car had been parked in the driveway “for at least a month.” As appellant was committing the burglary, a girl who lived next door also entered the house. She “left with a backpack full of clothes.” The backpack was open, and the clothes inside were “spilling out.” When the girl entered the house, “she didn’t have anything with her.” The girl’s mother yelled “that she didn’t want stolen stuff in her yard.” The mother “tossed all the stuff that was taken” into the front yard of the house.

2 The trial court inferred “that the keys were obtained somewhere in the house and…