People v. Garza

Opinion

KENNARD, J.

This case involves the interplay between two criminal law statutes: one a provision of the Penal Code, the other a provision of the Vehicle Code.

Subdivision (a) of Penal Code section 496 (hereafter section 496(a)) defines the crime of receiving stolen property. It also provides that a person who has been convicted of the theft of property may not also be convicted of receiving the same property. This provision codifies a common law rule prohibiting separate convictions of the same person for stealing and receiving the same property. (People v. Allen (1999) 21 Cal.4th 846,…