Rendon

In this case, the trial court refused to reduce defendant Jillian Ruth Rendon’s felony conviction for forgery in violation of Penal Code section 476 to a misdemeanor under Proposition 47 because the court concluded that while the counterfeit bills she possessed had a face value of only $260, other material she also had in her possession—security strips, Benjamin Franklin faces, and blank precut paper money—could have been used to make “tens of thousands of dollars” of counterfeit bills. We conclude the trial court erred because section 473—the statute that dictates the punishment for forgery—specifies that where the offense relates to a bank bill or note, the offense is punishable as a misdemeanor “where the value of the . . . bank bill[ or] note . . . does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950).” Material that could be used to make counterfeit bills has no bearing on the application of section 473, and blank precut paper money has no face value. In applying section 473, only counterfeit bills that have a discernible face value are relevant to the valuation process. Here, defendant possessed counterfeit bills with only $260 in discernible value.

In addition, under…