People v. Jercich CA5

INTRODUCTION

The essential facts of this criminal case are not in dispute. On July 20, 2005, appellant George Jercich and Bonnie Campbell went to a notary public’s office in the County of Madera where Bonnie presented an old driver’s license belonging to appellant’s former wife, Mary James, and forged Mary’s signature on two deeds purporting to transfer ownership of two parcels of real property (referred to by the parties as the “Conestoga Property” and “Snelling Property”) from appellant and Mary, as joint tenants, to appellant, as his separate property.1 Appellant later caused the deeds to be recorded in Merced County where the Conestoga and Snelling properties were both located. Mary, who was 66 years old at the time of the 2005 forgery, upon learning of the deeds’ existence in 2008, contacted the Merced County District Attorney’s office, seeking to file a complaint against appellant for real estate fraud. On March 6, 2014, a jury convicted appellant of four felony offenses, labeled as follows, in the verdict forms: “Theft from [an] Elder” (Pen. Code,2 § 368, subd. (d); Count 1); “Forgery of a Conveyance” (§ 470, subd. (c); Count 4); “Filing a False Deed” (§ 115, subd. (a);…