People v. Brown
Annotate this CaseNapa law enforcement officers initiated a traffic stop of Brown and found him in possession of clothing stolen from the Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein outlet stores. Brown was charged with a single felony violation of Penal Code section 496(a) (receiving stolen property in excess of $950 in value). There was evidence of Brown entering the stores and an employee witnessed the Calvin Klein theft. Convicted, Brown argued that he should have been charged with shoplifting, not receiving stolen property and that the prosecution improperly aggregated the values of the items stolen from the two stores. The court of appeal rejected Brown’s argument that section 459.5, created by the 2014 Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act (Proposition 47), required the prosecution to charge shoplifting instead of receiving stolen property. The court reversed and remanded for reduction of Brown’s conviction to a misdemeanor because the distinct transactions of entering the stores and taking items were separate crimes of receiving stolen property and ought to have been charged separately.
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