State v. Sharma

165 P.3d 693, 216 Ariz. 292, 511 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 9, 2007 Ariz. App. LEXIS 168
Court of Appeals of Arizona·Decided August 30, 2007·No. 1 CA-CR 06-0062·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

OPINION

WEISBERG, Judge.

¶ 1 Peter Sharma (“defendant”) was convicted of unlawful possession of an access device, theft by material misrepresentation, and taking the identity of another. On appeal, he contends that insufficient evidence supported the convictions for unlawful possession of an access device and for theft. He also argues that the trial court erred in using his prior federal felony convictions for sentence enhancement purposes. We hold that lack of intent to permanently deprive another of property acquired by misrepresentation is not a defense to the theft charge, but we further hold that the evidence did not support the conviction for unlawful possession of *294 an access device, and that defendant’s prior convictions were improperly used to enhance his sentence. Accordingly, we reverse the latter conviction and remand for resentencing.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 In 1988, defendant pled guilty in federal court to five counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false documents. He was sentenced to prison terms totaling five years on two of the counts, to be followed by five years of probation on the three remaining counts. After failing to report to prison as scheduled in February 1989, defendant lived as a fugitive and used the name “Peter Reynolds” until being taken into custody in May 1996. In March 1997, he also pled guilty to one count of failure to self-surrender and was ordered to serve an additional eighteen months.

¶ 3 Defendant was released from federal custody in December 2000 and began a five-year probationary period. He used his given name to obtain employment, but after encountering difficulty renting an apartment and because he had a good credit history as Peter Reynolds, in 2001 he began using the latter name. He also used a social security number comprised of the same numbers as his own but in altered order 1 to open bank accounts, obtain credit cards, and contract for utility services, including cable television service from Cox Communications. The scrambled social security number in fact belongs to another person.

¶4 After investigators learned of defendant’s use of the fictitious identity, police conducted a search of his home. Officers found various documents and access devices, including a Florida driver’s license, credit and debit cards, cheeks, and a counterfeit social security card, all bearing the name Peter Reynolds. Although defendant had generally paid all bills and obligations as they came due, his Cox Communications account had a balance of approximately $250 that had not been timely paid after the bank froze his account as a result of the fraud investigation.

¶ 5 Defendant was charged with taking the identity of another, a class 4 felony; unlawful possession of an access device, a class 5 felony; and theft, a class 6 felony. The State also alleged the federal felony convictions as historical priors and that defendant had committed the instant offenses while on probation. A jury found defendant guilty on all counts as charged. The court sentenced him as a repetitive offender to concurrent, mandatory, presumptive prison terms, the longest of which was ten years for identity theft. But, the court also found the mandatory sentences clearly excessive under the circumstances and entered an order asking that the Board of Clemency reduce the sentences to not more than two years.

¶ 6 Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 9 of the Arizona Constitution and Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) sections 12 — 120.21(A)(1)(2003) and 13-4033(A)(1)(2001).

DISCUSSION

¶ 7 We turn first to defendant’s arguments that insufficient evidence existed to convict him on the charges of theft by material misrepresentation and of unlawful possession of an access device. Our review of the sufficiency of evidence is limited to whether substantial evidence supports the verdict. State v. Scott, 177 Ariz. 131, 138, 865 P.2d 792, 799 (1993); see also Ariz. R.Crim. P. 20(a). Substantial evidence is such proof that “reasonable persons could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v. Mathers, 165 Ariz. 64, 67, 796 P.2d 866, 869 (1990) (quoting State v. Jones, 125 Ariz. 417, 419, 610 P.2d 51, 53 (1980)). “Reversible error based on insufficiency of the evidence occurs only where there is a complete absence of probative facts to support the conviction.” State v. Soto-Fong, 187 Ariz. 186, 200, 928 P.2d 610, 624 (1996).

*295 Theft Charge

¶ 8 Defendant was charged with theft by material misrepresentation in obtaining service or property from Cox Communications. To convict him of this charge, the State had to prove that without lawful authority defendant had knowingly obtained services or property from Cox through a material misrepresentation and with the intent to deprive Cox of those services or property. See A.R.S. § 13-1802(A)(3)(Supp.2006). Defendant concedes that he committed misrepresentation in obtaining cable service under a fictitious name but argues that no evidence showed any “intent to deprive” Cox of anything because he intended to pay for the service as demonstrated by his regular pre-arrest payments to Cox.

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State v. Sharma, 165 P.3d 693, 216 Ariz. 292, 511 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 9, 2007 Ariz. App. LEXIS 168 (Ark. Ct. App. 2007).

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