"The term “public place?generally means “a location readily accessible to all those who wish to go there ?.?People v. Perez (1976) 64 Cal. App. 3d 297, 301. The key consideration is whether a member of the public can access the place “without challenge.?People v. Olson (1971) 18 Cal. App. 3d 592, 598. Thus, the Olson court considered a house's front yard to be a public place because “defendant, a complete stranger to [the homeowner], was able to walk through the outside area of her home to the front door without challenge.?In contrast, a location guarded by a fence or locked door is not readily accessible to the public, and is not a public place. In People v. White (1991) 227 Cal. App. 3d 886, the court refused to deem another house's front yard a public place because it was “surrounded by a three-and-a-half foot-high fence with a gate which was unlocked at the time.?(Id. at p. 892.) It noted “the fence, gate, and [three pet] dogs all provided challenge to public access.?(Ibid.) And an interior hallway of an apartment building was considered to be a public place because “[t]here were no locked gates or doors to keep the public from entering?it. (Perez, supra, 64 Cal. App. 3d at p. 301." People v. Krohn, (Cal. Ct. App. 2007) 149 Cal. App. 4th 1294, 1298-1299.
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