People v. Orozco ( 2020 )


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  •         IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
    CALIFORNIA
    THE PEOPLE,
    Plaintiff and Respondent,
    v.
    ERNEST OROZCO,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    S249495
    Fourth Appellate District, Division One
    D067313
    San Diego County Superior Court
    SCN335521
    March 26, 2020
    Justice Liu authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief
    Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Chin, Corrigan, Kruger
    and Groban concurred.
    Justice Cuéllar filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    S249495
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,
    amended several statutory provisions to reduce certain criminal
    offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Here we consider
    whether Proposition 47 applies to an offense under Penal Code
    section 496d, subdivision (a), which criminalizes receipt of a
    stolen vehicle. (All undesignated statutory citations are to the
    Penal Code.) Proposition 47 amended section 496, the general
    statute that criminalizes receipt of stolen property, by making
    the offense a misdemeanor whenever the value of the property
    does not exceed $950. (§ 496, subd. (a) (§ 496(a)).) But
    Proposition 47 did not amend section 496d.
    Defendant Ernest Orozco pleaded guilty to one felony
    count of “unlawfully buying, receiving, concealing, selling or
    withholding a stolen vehicle” in violation of section 496d. He
    argues that Proposition 47 applies to his offense and seeks to
    reduce his conviction to a misdemeanor. The Court of Appeal
    held that Proposition 47’s revision to section 496, making the
    offense of receiving stolen property a misdemeanor when the
    value of the property is $950 or less, does not extend to
    convictions for receiving a stolen vehicle under section 496d. We
    agree.
    I.
    Orozco was stopped by police officers on August 7, 2014
    while he was driving in Escondido. A routine license plate check
    1
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    indicated the car Orozco was driving had been reported stolen.
    According to the police report, Orozco was the only occupant of
    the vehicle, and the car had a damaged ignition starter and was
    running without a key. The police report listed the value of the
    vehicle as $301. Orozco pleaded guilty to one count of
    unlawfully driving a vehicle in violation of Vehicle Code section
    10851, subdivision (a), and one count of receiving a stolen
    vehicle in violation of Penal Code section 496d, subdivision (a).
    He also admitted to three prior convictions for violating Vehicle
    Code section 10851 and eight prior prison terms under Penal
    Code section 667.5. His prior Vehicle Code section 10851
    convictions required him to be sentenced as a felon under section
    666.5 for his two August 2014 convictions.
    After Orozco pleaded guilty, California voters enacted
    Proposition 47. On December 11, 2014, Orozco filed a motion
    under Proposition 47 to reduce both his convictions to
    misdemeanors. Because Orozco had not yet been sentenced, he
    sought relief directly under the new law rather than
    resentencing under section 1170.18, subdivision (a). (See People
    v. Lara (2019) 
    6 Cal.5th 1128
    , 1135 [“Because defendant had not
    yet been sentenced at the time Proposition 47 became effective,
    its ameliorative provisions apply.”].) The trial court denied
    Orozco’s motion and treated both convictions as felonies.
    Orozco appealed, and the Court of Appeal affirmed. We
    granted review and transferred the case to the Court of Appeal
    for reconsideration in light of our decision in People v. Page
    (2017) 
    3 Cal.5th 1175
     (Page). Page held that under Proposition
    47, “obtaining an automobile worth $950 or less by theft . . . is
    punishable only as a misdemeanor, regardless of the statutory
    section under which the theft was charged.” (Page, at p. 1187.)
    Upon reconsideration, the Court of Appeal affirmed Orozco’s
    2
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    conviction under Vehicle Code section 10851 without prejudice
    to his filing an amended petition to show that the conviction was
    based on theft of a vehicle worth $950 or less. The Court of
    Appeal further held that Proposition 47’s revisions to section
    496 did not affect Orozco’s conviction under section 496d. We
    then granted review on the latter issue.
    II.
    As amended by Proposition 47, section 496(a) provides in
    part: “Every person who buys or receives any property that has
    been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner
    constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property to be so
    stolen or obtained, or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids in
    concealing, selling, or withholding any property from the owner,
    knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be
    punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one
    year, or imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section
    1170. However, if the value of the property does not exceed nine
    hundred fifty dollars ($950), the offense shall be a misdemeanor,
    punishable only by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
    one year . . . .” (Italics added.) The italicized sentence indicates
    the portion of the statute amended by Proposition 47. Before
    Proposition 47, that sentence read: “However, if the district
    attorney or the grand jury determines that this action would be
    in the interests of justice, the district attorney or the grand jury,
    as the case may be, may, if the value of the property does not
    exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), specify in the
    accusatory pleading that the offense shall be a misdemeanor,
    punishable only by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding
    one year.” (Former § 496(a); see Voter Information Guide, Gen.
    Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014) text of Prop. 47, § 9, p. 72.) In other words,
    receiving stolen property worth $950 or less was previously a
    3
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    “wobbler” offense, i.e., a crime punishable as either a felony or a
    misdemeanor. As a result of Proposition 47, the statute now
    dictates that “the offense shall be a misdemeanor.” (§ 496(a).)
    Section 496d, subdivision (a) also criminalizes buying or
    receiving stolen property, but it applies specifically to buying or
    receiving a stolen “motor vehicle, as defined in Section 415 of the
    Vehicle Code, any trailer, as defined in Section 630 of the
    Vehicle Code, any special construction equipment, as defined in
    Section 565 of the Vehicle Code, or any vessel, as defined in
    Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code . . . .” (§ 496d,
    subd. (a).) A violation of this statute is a wobbler offense:
    receiving a stolen vehicle “shall be punished by imprisonment
    . . . for 16 months or two or three years or a fine of not more than
    ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both, or by imprisonment in a
    county jail not to exceed one year or a fine of not more than one
    thousand dollars ($1,000), or both.”          (Ibid.)  As noted,
    Proposition 47 did not amend section 496d.
    Orozco contends that because the term “any property” in
    section 496(a) includes automobiles, his conviction for receiving
    a stolen vehicle in violation of section 496d must be treated as a
    misdemeanor under the amended language of section 496(a).
    The Attorney General argues that Orozco’s conviction for
    receiving a stolen vehicle is unaffected by Proposition 47’s
    amendment of section 496 because section 496d is a “separate
    and distinct” statute from section 496.
    “We first examine the statutory language, giving it a plain
    and commonsense meaning” “in the context of the statutory
    framework as a whole.” (Coalition of Concerned Communities,
    Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (2004) 
    34 Cal.4th 733
    , 737.) Orozco
    was charged and convicted under section 496d and not section
    4
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    496(a), a separate statute. Proposition 47 amended section
    496(a) to require receipt of stolen property worth $950 or less to
    be punished as a misdemeanor. It did not add a similar
    provision to section 496d. Section 496d remains the same as it
    was prior to the enactment of Proposition 47. It makes no
    reference to a value threshold below which receipt of a stolen
    vehicle must be punished as a misdemeanor.
    It is a settled principle of statutory interpretation that
    when voters have “ ‘ “employed a term or phrase in one place
    and excluded it in another, it should not be implied where
    excluded.” ’ ” (People v. Buycks (2018) 
    5 Cal.5th 857
    , 880
    (Buycks).) In Buycks, we examined whether section 1170.18,
    subdivision (k), enacted by Proposition 47, “retroactively
    mitigates the already-imposed collateral consequence of a felony
    conviction that is subsequently reduced under [Proposition 47].”
    (Buycks, at p. 878.) Section 1170.18, subdivision (k) provides
    that a felony conviction reduced by Proposition 47 to a
    misdemeanor “shall be considered a misdemeanor for all
    purposes.” In Buycks, we acknowledged that the statute’s text
    clearly reduces the future collateral consequences of offenses
    that Proposition 47 reduces. But we noted that the language is
    silent as to whether it also reduces the already-imposed
    collateral consequences of such offenses. (Buycks, at p. 878.) We
    found it “significant” that the language in subdivisions (a)
    and (f) of section 1170.18, nearby provisions which Proposition
    47 also added, clearly reflect an intent to have full retroactive
    application. (Buycks, at p. 880.) Because section 1170.18,
    subdivision (k) “uses no similar language,” we held that it does
    not have full retroactive effect. (Buycks, at p. 881.)
    The same reasoning applies here.                 “[W]e generally
    presume that the electorate is aware of existing laws.” (People
    5
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    v. Romanowski (2017) 
    2 Cal.5th 903
    , 909, citing In re Lance W.
    (1985) 
    37 Cal.3d 873
    , 890 & fn. 10.) We therefore presume it
    was aware of section 496d when it approved Proposition 47.
    Proposition 47 only amended section 496(a) to reduce receipt of
    stolen property valued at $950 or less to a misdemeanor. If the
    electorate had intended to reclassify section 496d offenses as
    well, it could have done so in the same way that it did in
    amending section 496(a). It also could have created a new
    misdemeanor sentencing provision governing all receipt of
    stolen property offenses, akin to the misdemeanor sentencing
    provision governing petty theft in section 490.2, which, as
    discussed below, reclassified offenses for theft of property valued
    at $950 or less into the offense of petty theft. But the electorate
    did not do so. Based on this straightforward reading, Orozco’s
    section 496d conviction is not eligible for a sentence reduction
    under Proposition 47.
    Orozco argues that the term “any property” in section
    496(a) renders his conviction under section 496d a
    misdemeanor. He relies on our decision in Page, supra, 
    3 Cal.5th 1175
    , where we examined the reach of Proposition 47’s
    petty theft provision, section 490.2. Section 490.2, subdivision
    (a) provides: “Notwithstanding Section 487 or any other
    provision of law defining grand theft, obtaining any property by
    theft where the value of the money, labor, real or personal
    property taken does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950)
    shall be considered petty theft and shall be punished as a
    misdemeanor . . . .” The defendant in Page had received a felony
    conviction under Vehicle Code section 10851, which “may be
    violated in several ways, including by theft of the vehicle.”
    (Page, at p. 1180.) The question was whether the defendant
    could be resentenced to a misdemeanor term under section 490.2
    6
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    if his Vehicle Code section 10851 conviction was based on theft
    of a vehicle worth $950 or less.
    In answering yes, we held that “Proposition 47’s new petty
    theft provision, section 490.2, covers the theft form of the
    Vehicle Code section 10851 offense,” even though Vehicle Code
    section 10851 was not amended by Proposition 47 and “is not
    mentioned in the opening clause of section 490.2,
    subdivision (a).” (Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at pp. 1183, 1186.) We
    explained that “the operative language” of section 490.2
    “ ‘stands on its own and means what it says — the act of
    “obtaining any property by theft where the value . . . does not
    exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950)” constitutes petty theft
    and must be charged as a misdemeanor.’ ” (Page, at p. 1186.)
    Because “[a]n automobile is personal property,” we said, “ ‘an
    offender who obtains a car valued at less than $950 by
    theft must be charged with petty theft and may not be charged
    as a felon under any other criminal provision.’ ” (Id. at p. 1183.)
    Page also concluded that the ballot material was
    consistent with this reading. We noted the Legislative Analyst’s
    explanation in the Proposition 47 voter guide, which said that
    “under existing law, theft of property worth $950 or less could
    be charged as a felony ‘if the crime involves the theft of certain
    property (such as cars).’ (Voter Information Guide, supra,
    analysis of Prop. 47 by Legis. Analyst, p. 35.) Under the
    initiative, according to the analysis, such crimes would no longer
    be charged as grand theft ‘solely because of the type of property
    involved.’ ” (Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at p. 1187.)
    According to Orozco, the term “any property” in section
    496(a) is just as encompassing as the term “any property” in
    section 490.2. Therefore, under Page’s logic, the act of receiving
    7
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    a stolen vehicle worth $950 or less is punishable only as a
    misdemeanor under Proposition 47’s amendment of section
    496(a), even if the offense was prosecuted under section 496d.
    The Court of Appeal in People v. Wehr (2019) 
    41 Cal.App.5th 123
    (Wehr), relied on the same reasoning: “Just as section 490.2
    applies to obtaining any property by theft, section 496 applies to
    ‘buy[ing] or receiv[ing] any property that has been stolen.’
    (§ 496, subd. (a), italics added.) . . . . Thus, receiving a stolen car
    valued at no more than $950 must be treated as a misdemeanor
    pursuant to section 496.” (Id. at p. 131.)
    However, section 490.2 differs from section 496(a) in two
    ways that together make Orozco’s analogy inapt. First, section
    490.2 is intended to reclassify conduct previously criminalized
    by other offenses into the offense of petty theft. Instead of
    modifying the penalties for the existing grand theft statutes,
    section 490.2 separately defines a category of conduct called
    “petty theft” that sweeps broadly to include theft of any property
    valued at $950 or less. (See Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at p. 1183
    [“[S]ection 490.2, subdivision (a), mandates misdemeanor
    punishment for a defendant who ‘obtain[ed] any property by
    theft’ where the property is worth no more than $950.”].) For
    this reason, “ ‘the independent clause [in section 490.2]
    containing the definition of petty theft stands on its own and
    means what it says.’ ” (Page, at p. 1186.) Section 490.2 was
    therefore intended to function as a sweeping catch-all that
    would capture all forms of theft, including those chargeable
    under Penal Code section 484e or Vehicle Code section 10851.
    Proposition 47’s amendment to section 496(a), by contrast,
    does not exhibit the same intent to reclassify conduct
    criminalized by section 496d. Section 496(a) is a longstanding
    statute that previously authorized charging receipt of stolen
    8
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    property as a felony regardless of the property’s value. As a
    result of Proposition 47, section 496(a) was amended to state
    that “if the value of the property does not exceed [$950], the
    offense shall be a misdemeanor . . . . ”          (Italics added.)
    Proposition 47’s amendment to section 496(a) did not create a
    new offense or purport to broadly reclassify several existing
    offenses, but rather reduced the punishment for a subset of an
    existing offense. The term “the offense” in the amended portion
    plainly refers to the offense specified in the previous sentence,
    i.e., receipt of stolen property punished under section 496(a).
    Thus, unlike section 490.2, the clause in section 496(a) reducing
    punishment for receipt of stolen property valued at $950 or less
    does not “ ‘stand[] on its own.’ ” (Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at
    p. 1186.) It refers exclusively to offenses punished under section
    496(a). The amended statute says nothing about an offense
    under section 496d, suggesting that the drafters intended to
    allow prosecutors to retain their discretion to charge section
    496d offenses involving vehicles worth $950 or less as felonies.
    Second, section 490.2 applies “[n]otwithstanding Section
    487 or any other provision of law defining grand theft.” (§ 490.2,
    subd. (a).) In Page, we concluded that this “notwithstanding”
    clause did not limit the application of the operative part of
    section 490.2 (Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at p. 1186), but we did not
    say that the clause was irrelevant either.           Rather, we
    acknowledged that the “notwithstanding” clause “saves [the]
    operation [of the statute] against interference from other
    statutory provisions defining certain conduct as grand theft.”
    (Ibid.) In other words, the “notwithstanding” clause in section
    490.2 clarifies that if the statute conflicts with a preexisting
    statute punishing the same conduct, section 490.2 would
    override that other statute. Although “the fact that the opening
    9
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    clause does not mention Vehicle Code section 10851 may suggest
    its drafters did not have that statute specifically in mind as a
    potential source of conflict,” the existence of the
    “notwithstanding” clause at least indicates that the drafters
    anticipated that conduct criminalized by section 490.2 would
    overlap with conduct criminalized by other statutes and that
    they intended section 490.2 to reclassify such conduct as “petty
    theft” punishable only as a misdemeanor. (Page, at p. 1186.)
    The absence of any “notwithstanding” clause in section 496(a)
    indicates that the drafters did not intend for the statute to affect
    conduct criminalized in other statutes, let alone reclassify
    conduct covered in those statutes. Section 490.2 is therefore not
    comparable to section 496(a) in the way that Orozco claims.
    The concurring opinion in Wehr reasoned that a
    “notwithstanding” clause expressly stating that section 496(a)
    overrides section 496d is unnecessary because “the relationship
    between section 496 and the more specific receiving stolen
    property provisions [like section 496d] is obvious. The latter are
    special cases of the former.” (Wehr, supra, 41 Cal.App.5th at
    p. 139 (conc. opn. of Slough, Acting P. J.).) But there is nothing
    obvious about construing amendments to one statute as
    impliedly amending another, even if the unamended statute is
    a more specific version of the amended statute. As explained
    above, such construction contravenes the settled principle
    against reading language used in one place into places where it
    is not used. (Buycks, supra, 5 Cal.5th at p. 880.)
    We also reject the alternative rationale that People v.
    Williams (2018) 
    23 Cal.App.5th 641
     (Williams) relied upon to
    reach the conclusion that Orozco here urges. Williams held that
    section 496d qualifies as a “theft offense” within the meaning of
    section 490.2 and is thus subject to section 490.2’s general
    10
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    provision that all theft offenses involving property valued at
    $950 or less are misdemeanors. (Williams, at pp. 649–650.)
    This reasoning is unpersuasive for several reasons.
    First, we have defined theft as a “taking with intent to
    steal the property — that is, the intent to permanently deprive
    the owner of its possession.” (Page, supra, 3 Cal.5th at p. 1182.)
    The elements of receipt of stolen property, in contrast, do not
    require the defendant to have engaged in any such taking. (See
    generally People v. Russell (2006) 
    144 Cal.App.4th 1415
    , 1425
    [setting forth the elements of receipt of stolen property],
    disapproved on another ground in People v. Covarrubias (2016)
    
    1 Cal.5th 838
    , 874, fn. 14.) Second, it is well established that a
    person who steals property cannot be convicted of receiving that
    property. (See People v. Ceja (2010) 
    49 Cal.4th 1
    , 6 [“commission
    of the theft excludes the possibility of a receiving conviction”].)
    Because a “theft conviction operates as a bar to a receiving
    conviction” (id. at p. 3), it is difficult to understand how receiving
    stolen property could amount to theft. Third, interpreting
    receiving stolen property to be a form of a theft offense would
    render part of Proposition 47 superfluous. Proposition 47 both
    amended section 496, receiving stolen property, and added
    section 490.2, petty theft. There would be no need to amend
    section 496 if the amendments to section 490.2 applied to
    receiving stolen property offenses. We disapprove People v.
    Wehr, supra, 
    41 Cal.App.5th 123
     and People v. Williams, supra,
    
    23 Cal.App.5th 641
     to the extent they are inconsistent with this
    opinion.
    Finally, we conclude that the construction we adopt here
    results in no absurdity because the electorate plausibly could
    have chosen to punish receipt of stolen vehicles more severely
    than vehicle theft or receipt of other types of stolen property.
    11
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    For example, the electorate could have concluded that stolen
    vehicles, unlike other items of stolen property, are often
    dismantled and sold for parts on the secondary market, which
    can raise their worth above retail value.
    Because the language of sections 496 and 496d is clear
    that a conviction for receiving a stolen vehicle valued at $950 or
    less under section 496d does not qualify for sentence reduction,
    we need not look to extrinsic sources for guidance. (In re D.B.
    (2014) 
    58 Cal.4th 941
    , 945 [“ ‘If the statutory language is clear
    and unambiguous our inquiry ends.’ ”].) We recognize that there
    is language in the ballot material suggesting that voters
    intended Proposition 47 to reach convictions under section 496d.
    In the voter guide, the analysis by the Legislative Analyst said:
    “Receiving Stolen Property. Under current law, individuals
    found with stolen property may be charged with receiving stolen
    property, which is a wobbler crime. Under this measure,
    receiving stolen property worth $950 or less would always be a
    misdemeanor.” (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra,
    analysis of Prop. 47 by Legis. Analyst, p. 35.) The word “always”
    may have conveyed to voters that every conviction for receiving
    stolen property, regardless of the type of property or statute of
    conviction, would be a misdemeanor if the property is worth
    $950 or less. Alternatively, it may have conveyed to voters that
    every conviction for receiving stolen property worth $950 or less
    pursuant to section 496(a) would always be a misdemeanor.
    Whatever the meaning of the ballot material, it cannot overcome
    the unambiguous statutory text, which indicates that
    Proposition 47’s amendments to section 496(a) do not affect
    punishments for receipt of stolen vehicles under section 496d.
    We must interpret the statutory language that the electorate
    actually wrote. (See Amwest Surety Ins. Co. v. Wilson (1995) 11
    12
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.
    Cal.4th 1243, 1260–1261 [voters “ ‘must be assumed to have
    voted intelligently upon an [initiative], the whole text of which
    was supplied each of them prior to the election, and which they
    must be assumed to have duly considered, regardless of any
    insufficient recitals in the instructions to voters or the
    arguments pro and con of its advocates or opponents
    accompanying the text of the proposed measure’ ”].)
    CONCLUSION
    We hold that Proposition 47’s amendment to section
    496(a) did not affect convictions for receiving stolen property
    under section 496d. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the
    Court of Appeal.
    LIU, J.
    We Concur:
    CANTIL-SAKAUYE, C. J.
    CHIN, J.
    CORRIGAN, J.
    KRUGER, J.
    GROBAN, J.
    13
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    S249495
    Opinion by Cuéllar, J., concurring in the judgment
    When California’s voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014,
    they amended the crime of receiving stolen property under
    Penal Code section 496, subdivision (a) (section 496(a)). What
    the court holds today is that this change “did not affect”
    convictions for receiving a stolen vehicle under section 496d.
    (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 13.) I agree. But this conclusion is less
    mysterious –– and more snugly consistent not only with the
    language of the statute, but also the ballot materials explaining
    Proposition 47 to California’s voters –– than the majority
    opinion suggests.
    Prior to Proposition 47, the crime of receiving stolen
    property when the value of the property did not exceed $950 was
    a so-called wobbler offense: a crime punishable as either a
    felony or a misdemeanor. (Pen. Code, former § 496(a); Voter
    Information Guide, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014) text of Prop. 47,
    § 9, p. 72.) What Proposition 47 did was transform this offense
    from a wobbler into a misdemeanor, provided the property’s
    value does not exceed $950. (§ 496(a).)
    Contrast this with Penal Code section 496d, which defines
    a separate offense: receiving stolen vehicles, trailers, vessels,
    and certain related equipment. Irrespective of a vehicle’s value,
    the offense remains a wobbler. The Legislature enacted this
    separate statute, “specific to vehicles” and related equipment,
    “in order to better track” such conduct. (Sen. Rules Com., Off.
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Cuéllar, J., concurring in judgment
    of Sen. Floor Analyses, 3d reading analysis of Assem. Bill No.
    2390 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.) as amended June 23, 1998, p. 2.) As
    the parties readily conceded at oral argument, that purpose
    would be poorly served if prosecutors retained unfettered
    discretion to prosecute the crime of receiving a stolen vehicle
    under the more general provision of receiving stolen property
    (§ 496(a)) instead of section 496d.
    If a person receiving a stolen vehicle may indeed be
    charged only under Penal Code section 496d, then the resolution
    of this case is straightforward. By amending section 496(a)
    while leaving section 496d untouched, California’s voters
    embraced a reduction in punishment that left unchanged the
    penalties for receiving a stolen vehicle. That latter offense was
    a wobbler before Proposition 47, and so it remains.
    The distinct reach of these two statutes also helps make
    sense of the Proposition 47 ballot materials. As the Legislative
    Analyst explained, “[u]nder current law, individuals found with
    stolen property may be charged with receiving stolen property,
    which is a wobbler crime. Under this measure, receiving stolen
    property worth $950 or less would always be a misdemeanor.”
    (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec., supra, analysis of Prop.
    47 by Legis. Analyst, p. 35.) When they read that “receiving
    stolen property worth $950 or less would always be a
    misdemeanor” (ibid., italics added) without any reference to a
    specific statute, reasonable voters likely would have understood
    the mitigated punishment to encompass only general “property
    that has been stolen” within the meaning of section 496(a) —
    which necessarily excludes stolen vehicles. Because defendant
    was convicted of receiving a stolen vehicle in violation of section
    496d, he’s not entitled to relief under Proposition 47. For these
    reasons, I agree the judgment below should be affirmed.
    2
    PEOPLE v. OROZCO
    Cuéllar, J., concurring in judgment
    CUÉLLAR, J.
    3
    See next page for addresses and telephone numbers for counsel who argued in Supreme Court.
    Name of Opinion People v. Orozco
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Unpublished Opinion
    Original Appeal
    Original Proceeding
    Review Granted XXX 
    24 Cal.App.5th 667
    Rehearing Granted
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Opinion No. S249495
    Date Filed: March 26, 2020
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Court: Superior
    County: San Diego
    Judge: Michael J. Popkins
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Counsel:
    Benjamin B. Kington, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
    Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler and Lance E. Winters, Chief
    Assistant Attorneys General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina, Meagan
    Beale, Kristen Kinnaird Chenelia, Michael Pulos, Minh U. Le and Daniel Hilton, Deputy Attorneys
    General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    Counsel who argued in Supreme Court (not intended for publication with opinion):
    Benjamin Kington
    Boyce & Schaefer
    934 23rd Street
    San Diego, CA 92102-1914
    (619) 232-3320
    Minh U. Le
    Deputy Attorney General
    600 West Broadway, Suite 1800
    San Diego, CA 92101
    (619) 738-9055
    

Document Info

Docket Number: S249495

Filed Date: 3/26/2020

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 3/26/2020