## Facts

- Jeffrey Antwan Shannon entered a J.C. Penney store in Downey, California carrying a bag.
- He removed clothing from a rack, concealed the items in his bag, and went to a cashier.
- He falsely claimed the items were his and requested an exchange for a cash refund.
- Store personnel had observed him conceal the items and permitted the refund as part of a plan to apprehend him.
- Shannon received approximately $102 and was arrested by store security after completing the transaction and leaving the store area.
- A jury convicted Shannon of petty theft with a prior under Cal. Penal Code § 666.
- The trial court found three prior strike convictions under Cal. Penal Code § 667(b)–(i) and a prior prison term under § 667.5(b), and imposed a 25-years-to-life sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence showed a completed theft by larceny or only attempted theft where the defendant was observed and stopped as part of store personnel’s plan.
2. Whether intent to “permanently deprive” is satisfied when the defendant seeks to obtain the property’s cash value rather than retain the physical goods.
3. Whether the Three Strikes sentencing scheme was unconstitutional as applied to Shannon.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment and sentence.
- The court held Shannon completed theft by larceny when he took the clothes from the rack, placed them in his bag, and slightly moved them with intent to steal their value.
- The court rejected the argument that completion required removal of the goods from the store premises.
- The court rejected Shannon’s claim that lack of intent to keep the clothes negated larceny, concluding intent to deprive the store of the items’ value sufficed.
- The court rejected Shannon’s constitutional challenges to the Three Strikes law.

## Legal Principles

- Larceny is complete upon taking possession of property and moving it even slightly, with intent to permanently deprive the owner of it or its value.
- In a retail setting, concealment and slight movement of merchandise after detaching it from its location can satisfy the taking and asportation elements when accompanied by felonious intent.
- Intent to permanently deprive may be shown by intent to deprive the owner of the property’s value, even if the defendant does not intend to keep the specific items.
- A conviction and sentence under California’s Three Strikes law will be affirmed where prior strike findings support the imposed term and constitutional challenges are rejected.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that Shannon’s theft was completed when he concealed and moved the clothing with intent to steal its value, making the store’s observation and controlled refund plan irrelevant to completion of larceny, and it affirmed both the petty-theft-with-a-prior conviction and the 25-years-to-life Three Strikes sentence.


People v. Shannon, 66 Cal. App. 4th 649 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998)