Gasaway v. Superior Court

California Court of Appeal Jun 9, 1977 No. Civ. 41306Published

Before: Caldecott

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Holding. The court held that welfare fraud under Welfare and Institutions Code section 11483 is subject to the three-year statute of limitations for general felonies under Penal Code section 800, as it is not an enumerated exception. Consequently, the trial court erred in overruling the defendants' demurrer to charges filed more than three years after the alleged offenses.

Issues

Whether the three-year statute of limitations for general felonies under Penal Code section 800 applies to welfare fraud under Welfare and Institutions Code section 11483.
Whether welfare fraud can be treated as 'grand theft' to qualify for an exception to the three-year statute of limitations.

Disposition. remanded

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“We conclude that the court’s ruling was incorrect, and that the demurrer should have been sustained”

“It is the policy of this state to construe a penal statute as favorably to the defendant as its language and the circumstances of its application may reasonably permit”

“Had the Legislature wished to include violation of section 11483 in any of these amendments, it obviously could have done so.”

Opinion

CALDECOTT, P. J.

Petitioners Sandra and Otis Gasaway seek a writ of prohibition after the Santa Clara County Superior Court overruled their demurrer to an information charging them with four counts of felony welfare fraud (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 11483, subd. (2)).

On February 15, 1977, the People filed an information in respondent court charging petitioners with four counts of welfare fraud in excess of $200, a violation of Welfare and Institutions Code section 11483, subdivision (2).

The information alleged that the offenses occurred on

[548]

the following dates: Count I, October 1973; count II, November 1973; count III, December 1973; count IV, January 19, 1974 through March 1974.

On March 21, 1977, petitioners filed demurrers to all four counts on the ground that they were barred by the statute of limitations (Pen. Code, § 800). On April 11, 1977, the trial court overruled the demurrer.

The question presented is the applicability of the statute of limitations contained in Penal Code section 800 to Welfare and Institutions Code section 11483.

Penal Code section 800 provides in part: “An indictment for any felony, except murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, the embezzlement of public money, the acceptance of a bribe by a public official or a public employee, grand theft, forgery, the falsification of public records, a violation of Section 72, 118, 118a, 132, 134, or 209 of the Penal Code, or Section 1090 or 27443 of the Government Code, shall be found, an information filed, or case certified to the superior court within three years after its commission. ... An indictment for grand theft, forgery, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter, a violation of Section 72, 118, 118a, 132 or 134, of the Penal Code, or Section 1090 or 27443 of the Government Code shall be found, an information filed, or case certified to the superior court within three years after its discovery.”

Petitioners maintain that since Welfare and Institutions Code section 11483, subdivision (2) is not specifically named as an exception in Penal Code section 800, the general statute of limitation for “any felony” applies, and that the statute therefore expired three years after the commission of the offense.

Gasaway v. Superior Court

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CALDECOTT, P. J.

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