Defendant may be convicted of felony evading a peace officer while driving in a reckless manner even if the entire pursuit occurs on private property. Plumas County deputies in two marked vehicles entered a 30-acre family farm to conduct a probation search on Corder’s girlfriend, Payne. Corder drove his truck towards the deputies and a pursuit ensued. When his truck stopped, Corder resisted arrest, injuring an officer. A jury convicted Corder of felony evading (Veh. Code, § 2800.2) and other offenses. On appeal, Corder argued the evading conviction must be reversed because the entire pursuit occurred on private property. Held: Affirmed. Vehicle Code section 21107.7, subdivision (a) provides in part that a city or county may, by ordinance or resolution, find that the interests of residents living along privately owned and maintained roads is best served by application of the provisions of “this code” to those roads. This provides a mechanism whereby the rules of the road may be applied to private roads, which Corder argued had not occurred here. However, this statute is part of Chapter 11 of the Vehicle Code, which defines and applies the “rules of the road” for highways. (Veh. Code, § 21001.) The statute under which Corder was convicted is not part of Chapter 11 and is not part of the “rules of the road.” The provisions governing felony evading (Veh. Code, §§ 2800.1, 2800.2), do not limit the crime to acts which occur on a highway. Thus, felony evasion may be committed on private land.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C084565.PDF