The court reversed the prior prison term enhancement for a federal offense on the basis that the People failed to prove it included all of the elements of a comparable California felony. Defendant was convicted of possession of counterfeit U.S. currency with intent to defraud (18 U.S.C. § 472). There was no comparable crime in Penal Code section 480, because that statute requires possession of paper not consisting of the counterfeit bank notes or bills themselves. Similarly the general California forgery statute (Pen. Code, § 475) requires an intent to pass or facilitate the passage or utterance of any forged items, which is not present in the federal crime. However, the matter could be remanded for retrial on the prior.
Case Summaries