594. (a) Every person who maliciously commits any of the followingacts with respect to any real or personal property not his or herown, in cases other than those specified by state law, is guilty ofvandalism: (1) Defaces with graffiti or other inscribed material. (2) Damages. (3) Destroys. Whenever a person violates this subdivision with respect to realproperty, vehicles, signs, fixtures, furnishings, or propertybelonging to any public entity, as defined by Section 811.2 of theGovernment Code, or the federal government, it shall be a permissiveinference that the person neither owned the property nor had thepermission of the owner to deface, damage, or destroy the property.
(b) (1) If the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction isfour hundred dollars ($400) or more, vandalism is punishable byimprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 or in acounty jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of not more than tenthousand dollars ($10,000), or if the amount of defacement, damage,or destruction is ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more, by a fineof not more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or by both thatfine and imprisonment.