Shannon

Defendant Jeffrey Antwan Shannon appeals from the judgment entered after his conviction by jury of petty theft with a prior. (Pen. Code, § 666.) The trial court found Shannon had three prior felony convictions under the “Three Strikes” law (§ 667, subds. (b)-(i)), for one of which he served a prison term. (§ 667.5, subd. (b).) Shannon received a 25-year-to-life prison sentence.

The case arose when Shannon went into a department store, took clothes from a rack, hid them in a bag, and took them to a cashier. Falsely claiming ownership of the clothes, Shannon asked to exchange them for a cash refund. Store personnel had seen Shannon hide the clothes and knew he had stolen them from the rack. Nonetheless, the cashier completed the exchange as part of the store’s plan to catch Shannon. Security agents arrested Shannon after he left the store with the money.

In the published portion of the opinion (pt. I), we hold that Shannon completed theft by larceny when he dropped the clothes in his bag intending to defraud the store of their value.

In the unpublished portion of the opinion (pt. II), we explore the rule that the store “consented” to the exchange/refund when it gave…