People v. Trotter CA2/3

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. The events of August 8, 20171 Hye Soon Oh, age 67, and her husband of 38 years, James Oh, owned a small clothing store at the Plaza Mexico mall in Lynwood. The Ohs made $500 to $700 a day in cash on weekdays. They took the cash home at the end of the day, when the store closed at 8:00 p.m. The Ohs lived in a condominium complex on Montrose Avenue in Glendale.

We take our facts from Trotter’s Statement of Facts in his opening brief, the clerk’s and reporter’s transcripts in his direct appeal, B292874, and our opinion in that appeal, People v. White et al. (July 16, 2020, B292874) [nonpub. opn.] (Trotter I). We previously granted Trotter’s request for judicial notice of those transcripts and of the opinion in his direct appeal.

2 Between 8:30 and 8:45 p.m. on August 8, 2017, Brian Lawton was walking on Montrose Avenue in the area of the condominium complex. The complex had two rows of condominiums divided by a shared driveway. Lawton noticed a red Dodge Challenger engaged in “[s]uspicious behavior.” With the headlights and interior lights off, the Challenger pulled up “extremely close” to the rear ends of cars parked diagonally on the…