Deay

J.—* Following a court trial, defendant was found guilty of two counts of residential burglary (Pen. Code, § 459) 1 and one count of unlawfully possessing a hypodermic syringe or needle (former Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4143, now Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4149), and he was further found to have suffered two prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)), as alleged in the information. He was sentenced to state prison for a total unstayed term of fifteen years and four months, consisting of a four-year middle term for one burglary conviction, a one-year-and-four-month unstayed consecutive term for the second burglary conviction, plus two consecutive five-year enhancements pursuant to section 667, subdivision (a). For the unlawful possession conviction, he was sentenced to time served in the county jail. A $2,000 restitution fine was imposed.

On appeal, defendant contends (1) the evidence is insufficient to support one of the burglary convictions, (2) both burglary convictions must be *283 reduced to the second degree by operation of law, (3) the sentencing court improperly imposed two section 667 enhancements for prior convictions on charges not brought and tried separately,…

I concur in all aspects of the majority opinion except for the discussion in part II concluding that “residential burglary” is the equivalent of first degree burglary. (But see Pen. Code, § 1170.95, subd. (c).)

It is unnecessary to reach that issue in this case because the trial court adequately found the defendant had burglarized an inhabited dwelling within the meaning of the first degree burglary statute, Penal Code section 460. *291 In a court trial, the degree of the offense must be fixed “before passing sentence.” (§ 1192; People v. Flores (1974) 12 Cal.3d 85, 94 [ 115 Cal.Rptr. 225 , 524 P.2d 353 ].) “Passing sentence” means such time as the court imposes sentence. (Flores, supra, at p. 93, fn. 6 .)

In this case, before imposing sentence at the sentencing hearing, the trial court stated: “Mr. Deay, you’ve been convicted of a felony violation of Penal Code section 459, Residential Burglary as charged in Count I and also convicted of a felony violation of Penal Code section 459, Residential Burglary as charged in Count II of the information on file herein.” Each cited count of the information expressly charged defendant had entered “an inhabited dwelling and residence.” The…