Carter

The defendants appeal from a judgment of conviction of the crime of grand theft and from an order by which their motion for a new trial was denied.

Briefly, the evidence adduced on the trial of the action purports to establish the facts which support the conclusion that by reason of certain false representations or pretenses made by the defendants to the owners of an automobile, the defendants secured possession and ostensible ownership of said automobile and thereby defrauded the owners thereof of its value.

Appellants predicate prejudicial error on the refusal of the trial court to give to the jury, at the request of the defendants, the following instruction:

In support of their position with reference to the error in question, appellants rely principally upon the provisions of section 1110 of the Penal Code, which, in very nearly the identical language of the refused instruction, provides as follows:

On the part of respondent it is argued that since the prosecution of the action against the defendants was authorized by the provisions of section 484 of the Penal Code, which section as now constituted in effect is a merger or a consolidation into the single crime of “theft”…