## Facts

- Michael Joseph Sparks went to Ana I.’s single-family home in Vista, California, claiming to sell magazine subscriptions.
- Ana gave Sparks water while he remained outside; he then entered the home, and Ana later could not recall whether she expressly invited him in.
- Inside, Sparks stayed at or near the dining area, asked personal questions, and remained after Ana repeatedly asked him to leave and gestured toward the door.
- Ana went to her bedroom to get shoes; Sparks followed her into the bedroom, pushed her onto the bed, covered her head with a pillow, and raped her.
- Ana escaped through a bedroom window and reported the assault.
- The burglary charge was based on Sparks’s entry into Ana’s bedroom with intent to commit rape, not on his initial entry into the house.

## Issues

1. Whether Cal. Penal Code § 459 permits a burglary conviction based on entry into a bedroom within a single-family residence with intent to commit a felony, when the defendant formed that intent only after entering the house.
2. Whether the trial court correctly instructed the jury that entry into “any room” within a building, with felonious intent, can satisfy the entry element of burglary in this context.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and reinstated the burglary conviction.
- The court held that entry into a bedroom within a single-family dwelling, with intent to commit a felony, can constitute burglary under § 459 even if the defendant initially entered the house lawfully or without felonious intent.
- The court concluded the “any room” instruction accurately reflected § 459 and was not erroneous.

## Legal Principles

- Cal. Penal Code § 459 covers entry into “any house, room, apartment, … or other building” with intent to commit larceny or any felony; “room” includes a bedroom within a single-family residence.
- Burglary may be predicated on an interior-room entry when the defendant crosses that room’s threshold with the requisite felonious intent, even if the initial entry into the building was consensual or lacked such intent.
- The statute’s objectives (protecting possessory interests and reducing the risk of violent confrontation from intrusions into enclosed spaces) apply to internal private rooms as well as exterior entries.

## Conclusion

A defendant who lawfully enters a single-family home may still commit burglary by later entering an interior bedroom with intent to commit a felony, because § 459 treats qualifying room entries as independently sufficient “entries” when accompanied by felonious intent.


People v. Sparks, 28 Cal. 4th 71, 47 P.3d 289 (Cal. 2002)