People v. Quair CA5

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 29, 2016
DocketF068313
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Quair CA5 (People v. Quair CA5) 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. Quair CA5, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 2/29/16 P. v. Quair CA5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

THE PEOPLE, F068313 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 13CM1205) v.

SAMMY RICHARD QUAIR, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT* APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kings County. Louis F. Bissig, Judge. Allan E. Junker, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Julie A. Hokans and Ryan B. McCarroll, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. -ooOoo-

* Before Gomes, Acting P.J., Poochigian, J. and Detjen, J. Sammy Richard Quair (defendant) was charged by first amended information with possession of a firearm after having been convicted of a felony (Pen. Code,1 § 29800, subd. (a)(1); count 1), possession of ammunition while prohibited from possessing a firearm (§ 30305, subd. (a)(1); count 2), misdemeanor exhibition of a firearm (§ 417, subd. (a)(2); count 3), and misdemeanor obstruction of a peace officer (§ 148, subd. (a)(1); counts 4 & 5). As to counts 1 and 2, it was alleged defendant had served three prior prison terms. (§ 667.5, subd. (b).) Defendant subsequently pled no contest to counts 1 through 3 and guilty as to counts 4 and 5, and admitted the prior prison term allegations. On September 6, 2013, he was sentenced to a total of five years eight months in prison. The sentence on count 1 included a one-year consecutive term for each of the prior prison term enhancements. The enhancements were again imposed, but stayed, as to count 2. On November 4, 2014, voters enacted Proposition 47, “the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act” (Proposition 47 or the Act), which went into effect the next day. (People v. Rivera (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1085, 1089.) The Act reduced certain felony or wobbler drug- and theft-related offenses to misdemeanors, unless committed by an ineligible defendant. (People v. Lynall (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1102, 1108; see § 1170.18, subd. (i).) Insofar as is pertinent here, it also provided a mechanism by which a person who had completed his or her sentence for a conviction of a felony that was made a misdemeanor by the Act, could apply to the trial court that entered the judgment of conviction and have the felony offense designated as a misdemeanor. (§ 1170.18, subds. (f), (g).) While defendant’s appeal was pending, the convictions underlying two of the prior prison term enhancements imposed in the current case were designated as misdemeanors under the Act. The issue before us is whether two of the additional one-year terms

1 Further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

2. imposed by the trial court pursuant to section 667.5, subdivision (b), for those prior convictions must now be stricken because, subsequent to defendant’s September 6, 2013, sentencing, those prior convictions were reduced to misdemeanors pursuant to section 1170.18, subdivision (f). On appeal, we hold that a previously imposed sentence enhanced by a section 667.5, subdivision (b) prior prison term is not altered by the granting of a Proposition 47 application reducing the felony that gave rise to that prior prison term to a misdemeanor. The Act does not so operate retroactively. Nevertheless, while we conclude all three section 667.5, subdivision (b) enhancements properly were imposed, we agree with defendant that they could be imposed only once. We modify the judgment accordingly and affirm the judgment as so modified. DISCUSSION2 Section 1170.18, enacted as part of Proposition 47, provides in pertinent part:

“(f) A person who has completed his or her sentence for a conviction … of a felony … who would have been guilty of a misdemeanor under this act had this act been in effect at the time of the offense, may file an application before the trial court that entered the judgment of conviction in his or her case to have the felony conviction or convictions designated as misdemeanors.

“(g) If the application satisfies the criteria in subdivision (f), the court shall designate the felony offense or offenses as a misdemeanor.” With respect to each felony count, the first amended information alleged, and the trial court found, upon defendant’s admission, that defendant had incurred the following enhancements under section 667.5, subdivision (b): (1) A conviction for violating section 666, suffered on September 13, 1995, in Kings County Superior Court case No. 95CM1869, and (2) A conviction for violating Health and Safety Code

2 As the circumstances of the present offenses are irrelevant to the issues on appeal, we dispense with a statement of facts.

3. section 11377, subdivision (a), suffered on September 26, 2001, in Butte County Superior Court case No. CM015569.3 At the time defendant suffered those convictions, both offenses were felonies. (Health & Saf. Code, former § 11377, subd. (a); former § 666; see § 17, subd. (b).) Post-Proposition 47, Health and Safety Code section 11377, subdivision (a) is a misdemeanor, punishable “by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one year,” unless the offender has certain specified prior convictions.4 According to the probation officer’s report, defendant has no such prior convictions, and the Attorney General does not claim otherwise. Petty theft, in violation of section 490, is a misdemeanor, as it is “punishable by fine … or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or both.” A violation of section 666 can be a misdemeanor, as it is “punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison.” (§ 666, subd. (a).) Thus, had the Act been in effect at the time defendant committed the violation of Health and Safety Code section 11377, subdivision (a), he could only have been convicted of a misdemeanor. The violation of section 666 could have been deemed a misdemeanor. (See §§ 17, subd. (b), 490.)5

3 The third prior prison term enhancement alleged and admitted — a conviction for violating Vehicle Code section 10851, subdivision (a), suffered on March 11, 1991, in Kings County Superior Court case No. 10087 — is not at issue on this appeal. 4 The prior convictions enumerated in the statute are “for an offense specified in clause (iv) of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 667 of the Penal Code or for an offense requiring registration pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 290 of the Penal Code.” (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a).) 5 Section 666 was amended by Proposition 47 to provide: “(a) Notwithstanding Section 490, any person described in subdivision (b) who, having been convicted of petty theft, grand theft, a conviction pursuant to subdivision (d) or (e) of Section 368, auto theft under Section 10851 of the Vehicle Code, burglary, carjacking, robbery, or a felony violation of Section 496, and having served a term of imprisonment therefor in any penal institution or having been imprisoned therein as a condition of probation for that offense, and who is subsequently convicted of petty theft, is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison. [¶] (b) Subdivision (a) shall apply to any person who is required to register pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act, or who has a prior violent or serious felony conviction, as specified in clause (iv) of

4.

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People v. Quair CA5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-quair-ca5-calctapp-2016.