Cecil

Defendant has appealed from a judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict which found him guilty of attempted arson in violation of section 455 of the Penal Code. He was sentenced to eight months in state prison, to be served consecutively with a prior uncompleted sentence for rape, and given credit for one day spent in custody in county jail.

On November 6, 1979, the date of the alleged offense, those provisions were found in section 451a of the Penal Code, and the original information filed March 10, 1980, charged a violation of that section. By Statutes of 1979, chapter 145, section 9, effective January 1, 1980, the provisions of section 451a were amended and renumbered as section 455. The information was amended on its face by striking 451a and inserting 455 by “M W Judge,” apparently on September 15, 1980, when the defendant appeared before a judge bearing those initials. After a challenge under section 170.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, further proceedings were held in other departments.

The defendant was punishable under the provisions of section 451a because they were substantially reenacted in section 455. (In re Dapper (1969) 71 Cal.2d 184, 189 [ 77…