People v. Garcia

209 Cal. App. 4th 530, 147 Cal. Rptr. 3d 221, 2012 WL 4130523, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 991
California Court of Appeal·Decided September 20, 2012·No. No. B233562·Published·Cited by 43 cases

Opinion

Opinion

TURNER, P. J.

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant, Paul Garcia, of making criminal threats (Pen. Code,1 § 422), a serious felony. (§ 1192.7, subd. (c)(38).) Defendant made the criminal threats on May 28, 2010. The trial court found defendant had sustained one prior serious felony conviction. (§ 667, subd. (a)(1).) Defendant was sentenced to six years four months in state prison. Defendant was sentenced on January 26, 2011.

Defendant was in presentence custody for 244 days from May 28, 2010, to January 26, 2011. Prisoners in local presentence custody earn credit against their state prison terms for good conduct and agreeing to perform labor as directed by the sheriff. (People v. Brown (2012) 54 Cal.4th 314, 317 [142 Cal.Rptr.3d 824, 278 P.3d 1182]; People v. Austin (1981) 30 Cal.3d 155, 163 [178 Cal.Rptr. 312, 636 P.2d 1].) Over the past several decades, computing presentence conduct credits has been a fairly straightforward, albeit sometimes taxing, ministerial duty. But between October 11, 2009, and September 20, 2011, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or Edmund G. Brown, Jr., signed five legislative bills which concern the calculation of presentence conduct [533] credits. These five legislative bills have made calculating presentence conduct credits a potentially complex undertaking. And, trial courts throughout California have been deluged with motions, habeas corpus petitions and hand-scrawled or typewritten (on actual typewriters) letters from inmates seeking additional presentence conduct credits.

In the published portion of this opinion, we will describe how those five legislative bills apply to this case. Because of the interplay between various bills and the dates of the commission of different offenses, there are a wide-ranging number of presentence conduct credit calculation scenarios. We will only resolve the case before us—a May 28, 2010 offense and a January 26, 2011 sentencing. We conclude defendant is entitled to only two days of conduct credit for every four days served in presentence custody. This is because in this case and on a prior occasion defendant was convicted of a serious felony.

This case does not involve a murder or other violent felony conviction. Presentence conduct credits in such cases involve different calculations. (§§ 2933.1, subd. (c) [15 percent limit on presentence conduct credits in violent felony conviction prosecutions], 2933.2 [no presentence conduct credits for convicted murderers].) Hence, we are not discussing in any way the effect of the five legislative bills on presentence conduct credits in murder or other violent felony prosecutions.

II. THE EVIDENCE*

III. DISCUSSION

A., B.*

C. Presentence Conduct Credit

1. Overview

The availability of conduct credits has been the subject of reform throughout California history. Initially, local boards of supervisors were charged with the duty to enact rules concerning labor in county jails. (Code commrs., note [534] foll., Ann. Pen. Code, §§ 1612-1614 (1st ed. 1872), Haymond & Burch, Comrs. annotators) p. 292; Stats. 1893, ch. CCXIV, § 1, p. 298.) In 1893, former section 1614 was amended to permit an inmate who had obeyed a jail’s rules and regulations to receive five days of credit against her or his sentence. The availability of the potential five days of credit was dependent on the approval of a local board of supervisors. (Stats. 1893, ch. CCXIV, § 1, p. 298.) In 1941, former sections 4018 and 4019 were enacted, which allowed for up to a total of 10 days per month of conduct and work credits. (Stats. 1941, ch. 106, pp. 1122-1123.) In 1955, former sections 4018 and 4019 were amended, but the maximum amount of work and conduct credits remained fixed at 10 days per month. (Stats. 1955, ch. 912, §§ 2-3, pp. 1538-1539.) In 1976, the Legislature repealed the 1955 versions of former sections 4018 and 4019. Former section 4019 was then reenacted and provided prisoners were to receive, for each “one-fifth of a month” of actual custody, two days of conduct and work credits. (Stats. 1976, ch. 286, § 4, p. 595.) In 1978, former section 2900.5, subdivision (a) was amended to include section 4019 conduct credits in the calculation of presentence conduct credits for convicted defendants sentenced to prison. (Stats. 1978, ch. 304, § 1, pp. 632-633.)

In 1982, former section 4019 was amended to provide presentence conduct credits so that for every four days served in custody the defendant was deemed to have served six days. From 1982 through 2009, former section 4019 authorized two days’ conduct credit for every four days spent in presentence custody. (Former § 4019, subds. (b) & (c), as amended by Stats. 1982, ch. 1234, § 7, pp. 4553-4554; People v. Brown, supra, 54 Cal.4th at p. 318, fn. 4; Payton v. Superior Court (2011) 202 Cal.App.4th 1187, 1190 [136 Cal.Rptr.3d 129].) The Legislature declared in 1982, “It is the intent of the Legislature that if all days are earned under this section, a term of six days will be deemed to have been served for every four days spent in actual custody.” (Former § 4019, subd. (f), as amended by Stats. 1982, ch. 1234, § 7, pp. 4553, 4554.)

At issue in this case are five amendments to section 4019 and two amendments to section 2933. Before proceeding to a specific analysis of each amendment to sections 2933 and 4019, it is best to identify the five separate bills which affect presentence conduct credit calculations. For purposes of clarity, we shall refer to the amendments by their bill numbers. First, on October 11, 2009, former Governor Schwarzenegger approved Senate Bill No. 3X 18 (2009-2010 3d Ex. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 3X 18), which amended section 4019. (Stats. 2009, 3d Ex. Sess. 2009-2010, ch. 28, § 50.) Senate Bill No. 3X 18 contains the controlling amendments to section 4019 in effect when defendant threatened the victim on May 28, 2010. Second, on September 28, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill No. 76 (2009-2010 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 76), which amended sections 2933 and 4019. (Stats. 2010, ch. 426, §§ 1-2.) Senate Bill No. 76 was in effect [535] when defendant was sentenced on January 26, 2011. Third, on April 4, 2011, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 109 (2011-2012 Reg. Sess.) (Assembly Bill No. 109), which amended, as relevant here, section 4019. (Stats. 2011, ch. 15, § 482.) Fourth, on June 30, 2011, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill No. 117 (2011-2012 Reg. Sess.) (Assembly Bill No. 117), which amended section 4019. (Stats. 2011, ch. 39, § 53.) Fifth, on September 20, 2011, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill No. IX 17 (2011-2012 1st Ex. Sess.) (Assembly Bill No. IX 17), which amended section 4019. (Stats. 2011, 1st Ex. Sess. 2011-2012, ch. 12, § 35.)

As we will explain, Senate Bill No. 76, which amended sections 2933 and 4019, contains the controlling presentence conduct credits provisions. Now what is the impact in this case of Assembly Bill Nos. IX 17, 109 and 117, all adopted after defendant was sentenced on January 26, 2011? The answer to that question: absolutely nothing.

2. Senate Bill No. 3X 18

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People v. Garcia, 209 Cal. App. 4th 530, 147 Cal. Rptr. 3d 221, 2012 WL 4130523, 2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 991 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012).

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