Pinsky

In a nonjury trial defendant Solomon Pinsky was found guilty on 9 out of 10 charged counts of grand theft. (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. 1.) Thereafter defendant discharged his attorney and hired a new attorney who moved for a new trial on the ground that defendant received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial. The court granted the motion for new trial on this basis, and the People appeal. (Pen. Code, § 1238, subd. (a)(3).) We conclude there was no showing trial counsel was incompetent and therefore we reverse.

From 1974 to 1976 defendant obtained merchandise on credit from the nine victims and did not pay the debts totaling over $53,000 1 He represented himself as Sol’s Auto Distributors, 826 Dodsworth in Covina. He obtained such merchandise as calculators, cameras, and radios purportedly as promotional items for his customers.

Several victims unsuccessfully tried to locate defendant at. 826 Dodsworth. The landlord who rented commercial space to defendant at that address (a warehouse operation) testified he had never seen defendant there, had never observed more than little bits of scattered merchandise at the location, and that the business was…