Dawson v. Superior Court

This petition for writ of prohibition raises primarily the interesting question as to whether the taking of a series of payments of welfare benefits based upon one false representation constitutes grand theft or merely petty thefts.

Record

Petitioner was charged in an information with two counts of grand theft and one count of violation of section 1550, Welfare and Institutions Code (perjury). * The first count charges that “on or about the 13th day of April, 1953, to November 19, 1954,” petitioner unlawfully took the property of the county of Alameda consisting of $1,154.93. The second count…