People v. Witt CA4/3

Filed 6/5/23 P. v. Witt CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G061305

v. (Super. Ct. No. 18CF0201)

RENAE LOUISE WITT, OPI NION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Scott A. Steiner, Judge. Affirmed. Richard L. Fitzer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Steve Oetting and Heather B. Arambarri, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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INTRODUCTION A jury convicted Renae Louise Witt of committing seven counts of medical insurance fraud in violation of Penal Code section 550, subdivision (a)(6). The trial court suspended imposition of sentence, placed Witt on two years of formal probation, and ordered her to serve 364 days in jail. Witt contends the trial court violated her constitutional rights to cross-examine a witness, receive a fair trial, and present a defense by prohibiting her trial counsel from questioning a witness (her former medical assistant) on the details of the witness’s prior convictions for theft-related felonies. We conclude Witt suffered no constitutional violation and therefore affirm.

FACTS Witt is a podiatrist. She saw patients on Tuesdays and Thursdays at her office in Tustin, California. S.S. worked for Witt as her medical biller from 2006 until September 2017. E.S. worked for Witt as a medical assistant from 2010 until 2017. In 2010, before being hired by Witt, E.S. was convicted of several felony counts of a crime involving moral turpitude. E.S. did not recall whether she told Witt about the convictions before being hired. E.S. assisted Witt in preparing “superbills,” which are a form of billing submitted to insurance companies. E.S. would prepare the superbills using information provided by Witt, such as procedure and diagnosis code. E.S. never prepared a superbill that Witt did not know about. She prepared superbills only at Witt’s direction. Once the superbills were finalized, they were delivered to S.S., who would send them to the appropriate insurance company. Approximately between 2014 and 2017, E.S. hand delivered the superbills to S.S. S.S. never made additions or corrections to the superbills and relied entirely on the procedure and diagnosis codes provided by