People v. Hutchinson
Annotate this CaseThe robbery conviction in this case may be affirmed based on constructive possession of an immediate family member's property. The Court of Appeal affirmed defendant's conviction of five counts of first degree residential robbery and five counts of home invasion robbery. The court held that substantial evidence supported the determination that one of the victims in the house constructively possessed the stolen property under the special relationship doctrine even if she was in neither actual nor constructive possession of any property that was taken at the residence. In this case, she lived at the residence, was present inside the home during the entire robbery, and, as with the other victims, was physically assaulted and restrained in order to prevent her from interfering with the crime's commission. Furthermore, her familial relationship with the stolen property's owners (her parents and siblings) expressly fell within the special relationships set forth in Civil Code section 50. The court reversed counts 1-5, however, because the "in-concert" allegations appended to count 6-10 were sentencing enhancements, not separate offenses. Moreover, multiple convictions may not be based on necessarily included offenses based on one criminal act.
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