People v. Robertson CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant Lachelle Robertson of grand theft of personal property (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (a)) and procuring and offering false or forged instrument (§ 115, subd. (a), hereinafter, § 115 (a)).1 The trial court sentenced her to 32 days in county jail and placed her on probation for five years. Defendant appeals contending: (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain either count; (2) the trial court committed prejudicial error in failing to provide jury instructions on the offense of theft by false pretense; (3) if the trial court did not have a sua sponte duty to instruct on theft by false pretense, defense counsel’s failure to request the instruction constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm the judgment.

FACTS

In 2004, defendant applied for supplemental security income (SSI) benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for her disabled son. Nahib Noor, an SSA Claims representative, interviewed defendant either in person or by phone. Noor had defendant attest that the information provided was true. Noor input defendant’s information, such as income, into a computer and defendant was informed that any changes to income…