People v. Hart CA4/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 25, 2014
DocketG047156
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Hart CA4/3 (People v. Hart CA4/3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Hart CA4/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Filed 6/25/14 P. v. Hart CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G047156

v. (Super. Ct. No. 05CF3395)

OTIS DANDRE HART, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Thomas M. Goethals, Judge. Judgment affirmed, as modified. Marleigh A. Kopas, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Peter Quon, Jr., and Randall D. Einhorn, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

* * * This is the third appeal arising from defendant Otis Dandre Hart’s conviction on numerous counts for conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery, street terrorism, and assault with a deadly weapon. In defendant’s first appeal, we affirmed his conviction for these charges, but reversed for resentencing. (People v. Hart (Aug. 31, 2009, G039836) [nonpub. opn.] (Hart 1).) In the second appeal, we again reversed due to sentencing errors. (People v. Hart (Oct. 11, 2011, G043668) [nonpub. opn.] (Hart 2).) Defendant appeals, arguing his sentence of 41 years on remand resulted from the court’s nonapplication or misapplication of law regarding the sentencing of juveniles and its abuse of discretion, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Additionally, he asserts Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (d)(2) (section 1170(d)(2); all further undesignated statutory references are to this code), allowing a juvenile offender serving a life sentence without parole (LWOP) to recall his or her sentence after serving 15 years, should be applied to a juvenile offender like himself serving a sentence less than LWOP. We reject these contentions. Defendant further raises several sentencing errors, to which the Attorney General either agrees with or has no objection to. We concur with defendant’s claims and order the minute order and the abstract of judgment be corrected accordingly. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. Because we do not remand the matter for resentencing, it is unnecessary to address defendant’s claims double jeopardy precludes a greater sentence on remand and that the sentencing judge should be disqualified.

DISCUSSION

1. Nonapplication or Misapplication of Law Governing the Sentencing of Juveniles Defendant contends the court failed to apply or misapplied law governing the sentencing of juvenile offenders. (See Miller v. Alabama (2012) 567 U.S. __ [132 S.Ct. 2455, 2469, 183 L.Ed.2d 407, 424] (Miller), Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48,

2 73, 79 [130 S.Ct 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825] (Graham), Roper v. Simmons (2005) 543 U.S. 551, 569-570 [125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1] (Roper), and People v. Caballero (2012) 55 Cal.4th 262, 268 (Caballero).) We disagree.

a. Standard of Review Although both parties agree a trial court’s sentencing decision is generally reviewed for abuse of discretion (People v. Sandoval (2007) 41 Cal.4th 825, 847), defendant correctly asserts that an error of law, either in the law to be applied or the misapplication of law to a given set of facts, requires a de novo review. “‘“The scope of discretion always reside in the particular law being applied, i.e., in the ‘legal principles governing the subject of [the] action . . . .’ Action that transgresses the confines of the applicable principles of law is outside the scope of discretion and we call such action an ‘abuse’ of discretion. [Citation.] . . . [¶] The legal principles that govern the subject of discretionary action vary greatly with context. . . . To determine if a court abused its discretion, we must thus consider “the legal principles and policies that should have guided the court’s actions.”’” (People v. Tran (2013) 215 Cal.App.4th 1207, 1218.)

b. Miller, Graham, Roper, and Caballero Defendant relies on Miller, Graham, Roper, and Caballero. But these cases are distinguishable because they involved juveniles sentenced to (1) the death penalty (Roper, 543 U.S. at p. 558); (2) LWOP (Miller, 567 U.S. at p. __ [132 S.Ct. at p. 2460, 183 L.Ed.2d at p. 414]; Graham, 560 U.S. at pp. 52-53; or (3) a term of years so long as to be the functional equivalent of LWOP (Caballero, 55 Cal.4th at p. 268). As a panel of this court explained, “There is a bright line between LWOP’s and long sentences with eligibility for parole if there is some meaningful life expectancy left when the offender becomes eligible for parole. We are aware of — and have been cited to — no case which has used the Roper–Graham–Miller–Caballero line of

3 jurisprudence to strike down as cruel and unusual any sentence against anyone under the age of 18 where the perpetrator still has substantial life expectancy left at the time of eligibility for parole. [¶] How much life expectancy must remain at the time of eligibility for parole of course remains a matter for future judicial development, but we can safely say that in the case before us there is plenty of time left for Perez to demonstrate, as the Graham court put it, ‘some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.’ [Citation.] [‘A State is not required to guarantee eventual freedom to a juvenile offender convicted of a nonhomicide crime.’] There is no dispute that, given all the credits already served by Perez, he will be eligible for parole when he reaches age 47. That is, by no stretch of the imagination can this case be called a ‘functional’ or ‘de facto’ LWOP, and therefore neither Miller, Graham, nor Caballero apply. And, of course, Roper was a death penalty case and does not apply for that reason.” (People v. Perez (2013) 214 Cal.App.4th 49, 57-58, fn. omitted (Perez).) Here, prior to January 1, 2014, and without considering his credit of 2,798 days, defendant would be 51 years old when he becomes eligible for parole. (§ 2933.1.) As that is only four years longer than in Perez, defendant still had significant life expectancy after prison and his sentence was not the equivalent of a “‘functional’ or ‘de facto’” LWOP as a matter of law. (Perez, 214 Cal.App.4th at p. 58.) Like the defendant in Perez, defendant will have ample time to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation. And he will have the opportunity to do so even sooner now due to new legislation effective January 1, 2014, providing for a parole hearing for juvenile offenders like defendant in the 15th year of their incarceration. Newly enacted Senate Bill No. 260 (2013-2014 Reg. Sess.) (Bill 260), codified at section 3051, provides for a parole hearing in the 15th year of incarceration for juvenile offenders “convicted of a controlling offense that was committed before the person had attained 18 years of age and for which the sentence is a determinate

4 sentence . . . .” (§ 3051, subd. (b)(1) (§ 3051(b)(1)); see People v. Gonzalez (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 1296, 1300-1301, 1309-1312 [50-years-to life not de facto LWOP given section 3051, subd. (b)(3) (section 3051(b)(3)] (Gonzalez).) Defendant’s sentence was thus was not the equivalent of a “‘functional’ or ‘de facto’” LWOP as a matter of law (Perez, supra, 14 Cal.App.4th at p. 58) and the Roper—Graham—Miller—Caballero line of cases does not assist him.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Roper v. Simmons
543 U.S. 551 (Supreme Court, 2005)
People v. Caballero
282 P.3d 291 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
P. v. Perez CA4/3
214 Cal. App. 4th 49 (California Court of Appeal, 2013)
The People v. Tran
215 Cal. App. 4th 1207 (California Court of Appeal, 2013)
People v. Zackery
54 Cal. Rptr. 3d 198 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)
People v. Sinclair
166 Cal. App. 4th 848 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)
People v. Rhodes
24 Cal. Rptr. 3d 834 (California Court of Appeal, 2005)
People v. Palacios
161 P.3d 519 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Sandoval
161 P.3d 1146 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
Cooley v. Superior Court
57 P.3d 654 (California Supreme Court, 2003)
People v. Mitchell
26 P.3d 1040 (California Supreme Court, 2001)
People v. Alford
171 P.3d 32 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Gutierrez
324 P.3d 245 (California Supreme Court, 2014)
Miller v. Alabama
132 S. Ct. 2455 (Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Bui
192 Cal. App. 4th 1002 (California Court of Appeal, 2011)
Graham v. Florida
176 L. Ed. 2d 825 (Supreme Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Hart CA4/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hart-ca43-calctapp-2014.