People v. Trotter

Opinion

HANING, J.

Robert Wayne Trotter appeals his conviction by jury trial of vehicle theft (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (b)), perjury (Pen. Code, § 118), and theft by false pretenses (Pen. Code, § 532). The court found true a prior robbery conviction (Pen. Code, §§ 667.5, subd. (b); 667, subds. (d) & (e), 1170.12). He contends the court improperly instructed the jury on the

[438]

requirements of proof of perjury, and permitted an amendment to the information to allege the prior strike conviction under the “Three Strikes” law after the jury was discharged.

Background

On September 28, 1996, Gerald Robert Cuff returned from vacation and discovered that his 1929 Ford Model A pickup truck had been stolen from a fenced yard at his Sonoma equipment company. Also missing was the truck’s certificate of title listing him as the registered owner, which Cuff had last seen on his desk a week or two prior thereto. Cuff’s employee, Edward Vladyka, saw the truck in the yard when he left work at 3:00 p.m. on September 26, and noticed it gone the next day.

On September 27, 1996, appellant told William Hodges, owner of Heavenly Car Rental and Repair (Heavenly) in Vallejo, that he had won the truck, and sold it to Hodges for $1,000 plus a Cadillac. Two wires hung down from the truck’s ignition, and appellant explained to Hodges that the keys were lost. At Hodges’s request appellant supplied a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) registration for the truck, and said he would forward him the certificate of title.

Ten days later Vallejo Police Detective Kevin Bartlett spotted the stolen truck parked in front of Heavenly. Hodges gave him a bill of sale for the truck and appellant’s California identification card. Appellant’s girlfriend gave Hodges a copy of the truck’s new certificate of title which had come in the mail. Appellant’s signature is located within a box on the certificate of title as the “transferee/buyer,” certifying under penalty of perjury that the odometer reading reflects the actual mileage. The certificate of title also bears typewritten information including Cuff’s name and address as the registered owner, the vehicle number, license plate, and transfer date. Under this typewritten information is the signature “Robert G. Cuff,” certifying under penalty of perjury that the signature “releases interest in the vehicle,” and next to it the handwritten date “9/18/96.”