Offense
Petty theft with a prior.
If D is charged with petty theft and has a designated prior conviction, the petty theft can be charged as a state prison wobbler. D also must have prior serious convictions or 490 requirements, per PC 666(b).
Aggravated Felony (AF)
AF: Petty theft is not an AF even if 1 yr or more is imposed. See Advice.
Crime Involving Moral Turpitude (CIMT)
Yes, 666 is a CIMT because the conviction is for petty theft, which is a CIMT. See 484.
Other Removal Grounds
No other removal ground.
Advice and Comments
AF. Generally an offense defined at PC 484, such as PC 487, is an AF only if both a sentence of a year is imposed and the loss to the victim/s exceeds $10,000. See Advice at 484. Petty theft cannot meet this requirement because by definition the loss does not exceed $950.
CIMT. Petty theft is a CIMT.
Counsel should see if the prior offense also was a CIMT. For rules governing when CIMTs trigger a removal ground, see ILRC, All Those Rules About Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude (2021).
Prop 47. Assume that immigration authorities will not give effect to a Prop 47 redesignation as a misdemeanor.1See United States v. Diaz, 838 F.3d 968, 975 (9th Cir. 2016), which declined to give effect to a Prop 47 reduction on the grounds that a state criminal reform statute that purports to retroactively change a previously final conviction will not be given effect under federal law. This was cited in Velasquez-Rios v. Wilkinson, 988 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2021), which declined to give effect to the retroactivity clause in PC 18.5(a) for federal immigration purposes for the same reason. One can argue that if the property offense at issue also is a wobbler, the reduction should be given federal effect because from its inception the wobbler had the potential to be a misdemeanor. At the same time as pursuing that argument, seek PCR. See discussion in Velasquez-Rios at pp 1087-88 of Garcia-Lopez v. Ashcroft, 33 F.3d 334 F.3d 840, 846 (9th Cir. 2003), overruled in part by Ceron v. Holder, 747 F.3d 773, 778 (9th Cir. 2014).
LRA Mandatory Detention: If D was not admitted to the U.S., a conviction or pending charge for this offense will trigger mandatory detention without bond under LRA. See further discussion at Overview: Mandatory Detention. Best option to avoid LRA is to plead to an offense unrelated to these categories if possible, e.g., trespass, PC 32, 594, etc. See PC 496 for arguments on how it should avoid MD but client will likely have to litigate that pro se from detention. (Note that people not admitted to U.S. also are subject to MD if they are inadmissible for crimes, and people admitted to the U.S. are subject to MD if they are deportable for certain crimes. See advice on Mandatory Detention.)
SB54: This conviction is based on priors that variously permit law enforcement to notify/transfer to ICE indefinitely for a state prison felony, for 15 years for an 1170(h) felony, and for 5 years for a misdemeanor, so check the underlying priors. Some sheriffs may argue that it is included as a “theft” offense, but advocates should push back because 484 is not an enumerated offense so multiple priors for 484 should not change the analysis. See SB 54 advisory at www.ilrc.org/crimes-summaries.