By Madeleine Gallay
The preliminary hearing for People v. Buenvenida, regarding a burglary in the first degree, began in Department 4. The prosecution called three witnesses during the preliminary examination: the victim and two officers.
The first witness presented to the court by the People was the victim. He stated that, while he was away on vacation to Cancun with his girlfriend, he was notified through a call from his mom on FaceTime that he had been robbed.
His mother, who had been watching the house, showed him the damage. The side door to his garage was damaged, one of the windows in the back of the house was broken, a sliding glass door had damage to its frame, and two screens were found in the side yard. The estimated cost of the damage to the house is $5,800.
The suspect, Ms. Lila Buenvenida, had been at the victim’s house the day the victim left for Cancun, searching for her phone which she had apparently left at the victim’s house the night before. The victim said this occurred because the suspect was getting together with the victim’s girlfriend, who is the suspect’s coworker, the night before.
All that the victim could identify as being stolen were four speakers.
The second witness was Officer Randall Krantz. During his testimony he described the damage that had been done to the house, as well as his conversations with a few of the neighbors.
At the crime scene, Officer Krantz took samples of blood that had been left behind on the window. He also canvassed the neighborhood and talked to two of the neighbors.
Both of the neighbors stated that they heard rustling around the house at around 9:00-‐9:30am and saw a white car drive away at approximately 11:00am. According to Officer Krantz, neither of these neighbors could identify a suspect.
The third and final witness called by the prosecution for this preliminary trial was Officer Richard Rayls. Officer Rayls described his conversation with one of the victim’s neighbors.
During this conversation, the neighbor reporting seeing a Hispanic female, of about 25 years dressed all in black with a bun on her head, emerge from the side gate to the victim’s house holding a box of miscellaneous items. The suspect proceeded to carry the items to a white Corolla.
Officer Rayls later went to the victim’s girlfriend’s work place, hoping to find more clues. Getting lucky the second time he went, he found the car that had been parked in front of the victim’s house. After bringing one of the neighbors to the work place to identify the suspect, Officer Rayls and his team arrested Ms. Buenvenida, for first degree burglary.
At the conclusion of this preliminary exam, the court determined that there is sufficient evidence to justify prosecuting Ms. Buenvenida for burglary.
