Court Opinion

ID: 9745859
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 13:36:57.799177+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:05.364026
License: Public Domain

TURNER, P. J., Concurring.
I concur in the reversal of one of the two Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) convictions. I reach the same ultimate conclusion as my colleagues but for materially different reasons. This is an appeal involving mixed issues of statutory interpretation and substantial evidence. (20th Century Ins. Co. v. Garamendi (1994) 8 Cal.4th 216, 271 [32 *1193Cal.Rptr.2d 807, 878 P.2d 566]; McMillin-BCED/Miramar Ranch North v. County of San Diego (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 545, 554 [37 Cal.Rptr.2d 472].) When the rule of lenity is factored in to the statutory interpretation aspect of the case, defendant prevails.
Unlike my colleagues, I believe the application of the “who within any consecutive 12-month period, acquires access cards issued in the names of four or more persons” is guilty of grand theft language in Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) to this case is cloaked in ambiguity. On one hand, it can be argued, as does defendant, that since the 11 credit card numbers were all possessed in a three-month, two-day period as alleged in the information, only one act of grand theft occurred. On the other hand, as the Attorney General argues, the first set of four victims can be segregated into one count which concludes a consecutive 12-month period. There is evidence that defendant between February 19 and March 29, 2001, used the credit card numbers of four victims to order merchandise. There is also evidence that between April 3 and May 8, 2001, defendant used the credit card numbers of four other victims to purchase electronic equipment. According to the Attorney General, a jury could reasonably conclude that any new “consecutive 12-month period” within the meaning of Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) began to run with the commission of the fifth possession of the stolen credit card number on April 3, 2001. Each theory finds a basis in logic because the Legislature never defines when the controlling “any 12-month” period begins or terminates.
Because Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) is ambiguous, resort to legislative documents is in order. (Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. v. Superior Court (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1036, 1047 [80 Cal.Rptr.2d 828, 968 P.2d 539]; People v. Snook (1997) 16 Cal.4th 1210, 1215 [69 Cal.Rptr.2d 615, 947 P.2d 808].) The first criminal statute to specifically address credit card fraud was adopted in 1961. (Stats. 1961, ch. 813, § 1, pp. 2090-2092.) All of the 1961 statute credit card violations were misdemeanors. (Ibid.) After the adoption of the 1961 statute, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal held that if a stolen credit card is used to purchase goods, the defendant may only be charged under the misdemeanor provisions of former Penal Code section 484a. (People v. Ali (1967) 66 Cal.2d 277, 279 [57 Cal.Rptr. 348, 424 P.2d 932]; People v. Swann (1963) 213 Cal.App.2d 447, 451 [28 Cal.Rptr. 830].) This was the case even if the property obtained with a stolen credit card exceeded $200 which, at the time, would have made a theft a felony. In response to this decisional authority, in 1967, the Legislature adopted the predecessor of the current Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b), which provides for felony treatment of credit-card-related offenses under specified circumstances. (See People v. Gingles (1973) 32 Cal.App.3d 1030, 1036 [108 Cal.Rptr. 744].)
*1194The “who within any consecutive 12-month period, acquires access cards issued in the names of four or more persons” language that appears now in Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) was first adopted in 1967 in then Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (4). (Stats. 1967, ch. 1395, § 3, p. 3259.1) Senate Bill No. 1055, which enacted the predecessor provision of current Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b), was adopted for the following purposes: “Establishes comprehensive system of penal offenses involving credit cards, and places them (as appropriate) as theft or forgery. Provides for misdemeanor and felony punishments, the value which divides such in some cases being the value of goods obtained, etc., by use of the card, rather than the value of the card. Sets up presumptions of violations based on certain facts.” (Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 1055 (1967-1968 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 26, 1967, p. 1; original underscore.) The only discussion of what is now Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) in the 1967 Senate Committee on Judiciary analysis states, “Every person who during any consecutive 12-month period receives credit cards in the names of 4 or more persons which he has reason to know were obtained as in (1) or (3), supra, is guilty of grand theft, a felony.” (Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 1055 (1967-1968 Reg. Sess.) as amended June 2, 1967, p. 3; original underscore.) The bill memorandum from the legislative secretaries of the Assembly and Senate to former Governor Ronald Reagan states, “The bill extends coverage of existing penal provisions by encompassing areas of misuse not presently proscribed, such as obtaining a credit card through use of false credit card references, dealing in stolen cards, collusion between service establishments and persons possessing stolen or forged cards, and the possession of machinery and plates designed for credit forgery.” (Bill Memorandum from Vernon L. Sturgeon and Jack B. Lindsey to Gov. Ronald Reagan, Sen. Bill No. 1055 (1967-1968 Reg. Sess.) Aug. 21, 1967.)
Defendant is entitled, in matters of statutory interpretation, to the benefit of the “rule of ‘lenity,’ ” which is as follows: “[W]e have repeatedly stated that *1195when a statute defining a crime or punishment is susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, the appellate court should ordinarily adopt that interpretation more favorable to the defendant. (E.g., People v. Garcia (1999) 21 Cal.4th 1,10 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 114, 980 P.2d 829]; People v. Gardeley (1996) 14 Cal.4th 605, 622 [59 Cal.Rptr.2d 356, 927 P.2d 713].)” (People v. Avery (2002) 27 Cal.4th 49, 57 [115 Cal.Rptr.2d 403, 38 P.3d 1].) However, the Supreme Court has explained the limited nature of the lenity rule thusly: “As Witkin explains, ‘The rule [of lenity] applies only if the court can do no more than guess what the legislative body intended; there must be an egregious ambiguity and uncertainty to justify invoking the rule.’ (1 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (3d ed. 2000) Introduction to Crimes, § 24, p. 53.) In People v. Jones (1988) 46 Cal.3d 585, 599 [250 Cal.Rptr. 635, 758 P.2d 1165] . . . , we described the rule of lenity in a way fully consistent with [Penal Code] section 4: ‘The rule of statutory interpretation that ambiguous penal statutes are construed in favor of defendants is inapplicable unless two reasonable interpretations of the same provision stand in relative equipoise, i.e., that resolution of the statute’s ambiguities in a convincing manner is impracticable.’ [][] Thus, although true ambiguities are resolved in a defendant’s favor, an appellate court should not strain to interpret a penal statute in defendant’s favor if it can fairly discern a contrary legislative intent.” (People v. Avery, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 58; see Burris v. Superior Court (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1012, 1022-1023 [22 Cal.Rptr.3d 876, 103 P.3d 276]; People v. Farell (2002) 28 Cal.4th 381, 394-395 [121 Cal.Rptr.2d 603, 48 P.3d 1155].)
Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) defines the unauthorized possession of four or more credit card numbers during “any consecutive 12-month period” to be grand theft. (Italics added.) As the Supreme Court has noted, “ ‘ “any” means “any.” ’ ” (People v. Turner (1990) 50 Cal.3d 668, 704 [268 Cal.Rptr. 706, 789 P.2d 887], quoting People v. Castro (1985) 38 Cal.3d 301, 310 [211 Cal.Rptr. 719, 696 P.2d 111]; People v. Prather (1990) 50 Cal.3d 428, 434 [267 Cal.Rptr. 605, 787 P.2d 1012].) And as the prosecutor argued in this case, once the first four violations occurred, a new consecutive 12-month period could commence. The problem is, no contemporaneously produced legislative documents support the argument of the Attorney General. No committee report directly or inferentially states a prosecutor may pursue a second Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) violation as occurred here. Moreover, the judiciary committee report and memorandum to former Governor Reagan contain no such indication. Nor does any other document promulgated in connection with the adoption of Senate Bill No. 1055 in 1967 support the perspective of the Attorney General. The fairest reading of the historical documents propounded in 1967 show the theory propounded by the Attorney General was never considered by the Legislature. Defendant’s construction of Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) is not strained. *1196Hence, the rule of lenity applies. (People v. Farell, supra, 28 Cal.4th at pp. 394-395; People v. Avery, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 58.) Since there was substantial evidence that the 11 credit card numbers were possessed during a single consecutive 12-month period, defendant may only be convicted of a single Penal Code section 484e, subdivision (b) violation.

 The 1967 version of section 484(e) stated in its entirety: “(1) Every person who acquires a credit card from another without the cardholder’s or issuer’s consent or who, with knowledge that it has been so acquired, acquires the credit card, with intent to use it or to sell or transfer it to a person other than the issuer or cardholder is guilty of petty theft, [f] (2) Every person who acquires a credit card that he knows to have been lost, mislaid, or delivered under a mistake as to the identity or address of the cardholder, and who retains possession with intent to use it or to sell it or to transfer it to a person other than the issuer or the cardholder is guilty of petty theft. [1[] (3) Every person who sells, transfers, conveys, or receives a credit card with the intent to defraud is guilty of petty theft. [IQ (4) Every person other than the issuer, who within any consecutive 12-month period, acquires credit cards issued in the names of four or more persons which he has reason to know were taken or retained under circumstances which constitute a violation of subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) of this section is guilty of grand theft.” (Stats. 1967, ch. 1395, § 3, p. 3259.)