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Discussion

I

The Extortion Conviction

Sufficiency of the Evidence

As we shall explain, we agree with defendant's contention that extortion is a specific intent crime and that his conviction of that charge must be reversed because the trial court failed to instruct the jury on the required specific intent. However, because of the nature of several of defendant's arguments concerning the sufficiency of the evidence and the possibility of retrial on that charge, it is appropriate that we address preliminarily his contention that the extortion conviction is not supported by substantial evidence.

[1] Citing a long list of cases in which the accused demanded from the victim a specific sum of money, defendant points out that he did not and argues that evidence of a request or demand for a specific sum is required to support a conviction for extortion. We do not agree. Penal Code section 518 which defines the crime of extortion contains no such requirement. It reads: "Extortion is the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, ... induced by a wrongful use of force or fear, or under color of official right." (Italics added.)

It is true that in many cases a specific sum of money was requested or demanded, but so far as we are informed no appellate decision has held or stated that evidence of a demand or request for a specific sum is a prerequisite to a conviction of extortion.

[2] Next, defendant asserts that he had a legal right to make a citizen's arrest of the victim for the misdemeanor of soliciting an act of prostitution (Pen. Code, § 647, subd. (b)), and argues that since he had the right to make such an arrest, his threat to arrest the victim could not be "a wrongful use of ... fear" under the statute. Not so. First, even if defendant had the right to arrest the victim, he was not at liberty to threaten to arrest her for the purpose of extorting money or property from her. (People v. Powell (1920) 50 Cal. App. 436, 441 [195 P. 456]; cf. People v. Beggs (1918) 178 [167 Cal. App. 3d 788] Cal. 79, 84-85 [179 P. 152].) As stated by the court in Powell: "But we do not think that, merely because of the conceded guilt of the complaining witness, defendant is thereby relieved of the pains and penalties of the offense charged--extortion .... Under section 518, ... obtaining the payment of money from a violator of the ordinance referred to by a threat of arrest and detention if the payment be not made, is extortion, and this without regard to the exercise of good faith in threatening to make the arrest." (50 Cal. App. 436, 441.)

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Failure to Instruct on Specific Intent

[3a, 4a] As noted preliminarily, we agree with defendant that extortion is a specific intent crime and that the trial court was required sua sponte to so instruct the jury. [3b, 4b, 5] It is well settled, of course, that the trial court has a duty in criminal cases, even in the absence of a request, to instruct the jury on the general principles of law relevant to the issues raised by the evidence. (E.g., People v. Wickersham (1982) 32 Cal. 3d 307, 323 [185 Cal. Rptr. 436, 650 P.2d 311]; People v. St. Martin (1970) 1 Cal. 3d 524, 531 [83 Cal. Rptr. 166, 463 P.2d 390].) The general principles of law governing the case are those principles closely and openly connected with the facts before the court and necessary for the jury's understanding of the case. (Id) The duty to instruct on the general principles of law governing the case encompasses at a minimum the elements that must be proved to support a conviction. (People v. Ford (1964) 60 Cal. 2d 772, 792-793 [36 Cal. Rptr. 620, 388 P.2d 892].) Thus, in a case in which specific intent is a [167 Cal. App. 3d 789] required element, the court must instruct the jury as to that requirement even in the absence of a request. (People v. Ford, supra, 60 Cal. 2d 772, 793, and cases there cited.)

[3c, 4c] The dispositive question therefore is whether the crime of extortion requires proof of a specific intent. Urging it does not, the Attorney General relies on the generally accepted approach to the problem set forth in People v. Hood (1969) 1 Cal. 3d 444, 456-457 [82 Cal. Rptr. 618, 462 P.2d 370]: "Specific and general intent have been notoriously difficult terms to define and apply, and a number of text writers recommend that they be abandoned altogether. [Citation omitted.] Too often the characterization of a particular crime as one of specific or general intent is determined solely by the presence or absence of words describing psychological phenomena--'intent' or 'malice,' for example--in the statutory language defining the crime. When the definition of a crime consists of only the description of a particular act, without reference to intent to do a further act or achieve a future consequence, we ask whether the defendant intended to do the proscribed act. This intention is deemed to be a general criminal intent. When the definition refers to defendant's intent to do some further act or achieve some additional consequence, the crime is deemed to be one of specific intent." (Italics added; accordPeople v. Daniels (1975) 14 Cal. 3d 857, 860 [122 Cal. Rptr. 872, 537 P.2d 1232].)

As previously quoted, Penal Code section 518 reads in relevant part: "Extortion is the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, ... induced by a wrongful use of force or fear, or under color of official right." Applying the Hood formulation to this language, the Attorney General argues that the act proscribed is "the obtaining of property," that until the property is obtained the crime is not complete and that after the property is obtained there is no further act to be done or no further consequence to be achieved and that, therefore, the crime must be one of general intent rather than specific intent.

While we cannot fault the logic in the argument, we are unable to agree with it. We think the problem stems from the way in which the statute is worded. In substance, what is proscribed is the successful wrongful use of force or fear to obtain property from another with his or her consent. Viewed from that standpoint, the elements of the offense are: (1) A wrongful use of force or fear, (2) with the specific intent of inducing the victim to consent to the defendant's obtaining his or her property, (3) which does in fact induce such consent and results in the defendant's obtaining property from the victim. Applying the Hood formulation to the elements thus stated, the intent required is seen to be a specific one. The crime requires an unlawful use of force or fear with the intent of achieving a further consequence, [167 Cal. App. 3d 790]the inducement of another person to consent to the actor's obtaining the other's property. (See 31 Am.Jur.2d, Extortion, Blackmail, etc., § 9, pp. 906-907; cf. People v. Francisco (1931) 112 Cal. App. 442, 444 [297 P. 34].)

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Even if it were otherwise, however, under the evidence adduced in the instant case we could not conclude the error was harmless. Defendant never made any express request or demand for money. The victim testified that without prior discussion of her paying defendant any money, she reached into her pocket, pulled out the $50 and handed it to defendant in the hope that would cause him not to arrest her or take her to jail. One inference to be drawn from the evidence was that defendant intended by his conduct to obtain oral copulation without payment and that the $50 given him by the victim was an unexpected windfall.

We conclude the conviction for extortion must be reversed.