People v. Wilde CA3

Filed 7/31/14 P. v. Wilde CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Placer) ----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, C075188

v. (Super. Ct. No. 62117728)

DAVID SACHIO WILDE,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury convicted defendant David Sachio Wilde of theft from an elder adult, forgery, second degree burglary and attempting to dissuade a witness, and defendant admitted serving three prior prison terms. The trial court sentenced him to nine years in prison. Defendant now contends the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to reduce his conviction for attempting to dissuade a witness from a felony to a misdemeanor,

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resulting in the denial of his federal and state due process rights. Concluding that his contention lacks merit, we will affirm the judgment. BACKGROUND Defendant’s 82-year-old mother traveled to Japan in May 2012. During the trip she learned that her checking account containing $5,000 had been depleted. The mother had not given defendant or anyone else permission to draw checks on her account. Upon her return, she closed the account and opened a new one. Auburn Police Detective Jerry Johnson interviewed the mother, who reported that defendant had been taking money from her for several years. During his investigation, Detective Johnson discovered four checks in which the mother’s signature appeared to be forged. When he asked her about the checks, she explained that defendant had taken the checks from a closet in her residence while she was in Japan. Defendant admitted to Detective Johnson that he had taken the checks and had signed them because he needed money for drugs and gambling while his mother was away. While defendant was incarcerated after his arrest, he spoke by telephone with his girlfriend and some of their conversations were recorded. The jury heard recordings of some of the conversations and received transcripts of the recordings. During the conversations, defendant urged his girlfriend to contact the mother in an effort to convince her to drop the charges. After the girlfriend spoke with the mother, the mother asked Detective Johnson to drop the charges. The jury found defendant guilty of theft from an elder adult (Pen. Code, § 368, subd. (d)(1) -- count two),1 forgery (§ 470, subd. (a) -- count three), second degree burglary (§§ 459, 460, subd. (b) -- counts five, six and seven), and attempting to dissuade a witness (§ 136.1, subd. (a)(2) -- count eight). The jury found defendant not guilty of