People v. Sanchez CA6

California Court of Appeal·Decided August 23, 2024·No. H051274·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 8/23/24 P. v. Sanchez CA6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H051274 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. 207514)

v.

ELIAZAR SANCHEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

In 1999, Eliazar Sanchez was sentenced to imprisonment for 25 years to life. As part of this sentence, the trial court imposed an enhancement for a prior prison term, but struck the punishment. In 2023, relying on intervening legislation retroactively invalidating most “prison priors” and providing for resentencing of inmates upon whom now-invalid enhancement were imposed (Penal Code, § 1172.75),1 Sanchez petitioned for resentencing. The trial court denied the petition because the prison prior imposed upon Sanchez was not executed. Sanchez appeals, arguing that section 1172.75 requires resentencing whenever a now-invalid prison prior was imposed, whether punishment for the prior was executed, stayed, or stricken. We agree. Accordingly, we reverse and remand with directions to resentence Sanchez under section 1172.75.

1 Subsequent undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. I. BACKGROUND

In 1998, an information charged Sanchez with various offenses relating, among other things, to the possession and transportation of methamphetamine as well as carrying and concealing a firearm. In addition, the information alleged various sentencing enhancements, including one under former section 667.5, subdivision (b) involving a robbery conviction for which Sanchez served a prison term. In March 1999, a jury found Sanchez guilty on all counts, and later that year the trial court found true the prison prior allegation. Accordingly, the trial court sentenced Sanchez to a total term of 25 years to life. While a prison prior enhancement under section 667.5, subdivision (b) was included in both the clerk’s minutes and the abstract of judgment, both indicated “S,” or stayed, for the enhancement’s term. However, at the sentencing hearing the trial stated that “[t]he court does strike in the interest of justice the additional one year enhancement under 667.5(b). The one year that is stricken is in the interest of justice.” In July 2023, invoking amendments to section 667.5, subdivision (b) made retroactive by Senate Bill No. 483 (2020-2021 Reg. Sess.), Sanchez requested resentencing under section 1172.75 in light of the prison prior imposed on him. In response, the prosecutor did not dispute that a prison prior was imposed on Sanchez or that he had been identified by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as having an eligible prior.2 Instead, the prosecutor argued that Sanchez was not entitled to resentencing under section 1172.75 because punishment for the prison was not executed. The trial court considered Sanchez’s petition along with the petitions of other incarcerated individuals upon whom prison priors were imposed but punishment was stayed or stricken rather than executed. At the hearing, the trial court denied all the petitions, concluding that a “Penal Code Section 667.5(b) enhancement was not imposed

2 Because Sanchez’s identification has not been challenged, we deny as moot his request to augment the record on appeal to add evidence of identification. 2 if it is stayed or punishment stricken.” That same day, the trial court issued an order pertaining to Sanchez, which likewise held that “[t]he section 667.5(b) enhancement was not ‘imposed’ because no additional term of punishment was added to the base when the publishment was stayed or stricken at the time of sentencing.” Five days later, Sanchez filed a timely notice of appeal. II. DISCUSSION

Sanchez contends that the trial court erred in denying him resentencing because section 1172.75 requires only that a now-invalid prison prior was “imposed” and does not implicitly add any requirement that punishment for the prison prior be executed. However, before considering that question, we consider a threshold issue raised by the Attorney General on appeal: whether a prison prior was imposed on Sanchez. A. The Prison Prior

The Attorney General contends that the trial court did not merely strike the punishment for Sanchez’s prison prior; according to the Attorney General, the trial court struck the prison prior entirely. We read the record differently. Although the trial court’s statements in the sentencing transcript are somewhat ambiguous, they are best understood as striking the punishment for Sanchez’s prison prior rather than striking the prison prior in its entirety. There is no mention of striking the prison prior in its entirety or the allegation underlying it. Instead, the trial court focused on punishment, saying that it was striking the “one year enhancement,” and that the “one year” was stricken in the interest of justice: “The Court does strike in the interest of justice the additional one year enhancement under 667.5(B). The one year that is stricken is in the interest of justice.” If the trial court had intended to strike the prison prior in its entirety, it would not have needed to refer to the “one year enhancement,” and it likely would have said that the enhancement, not the “one year,” was being stricken in the interest of justice. It is possible, of course, that in mentioning the “one year,” the trial court was merely stressing its motive for striking the prison prior in its entirety. But if 3 the trial court was motivated by concerns about excess punishment, it is more likely to have struck the punishment rather than the prison prior in its entirety. We therefore conclude that the trial court imposed a prison prior on Sanchez but struck the punishment for it. This conclusion is supported by the background rules under which the trial court was operating in 1999 when Sanchez was sentenced. Then, as now, trial courts had discretion to strike sentencing enhancements in their entirety or to strike only the punishment for them. (§ 1385, subds. (a), (b)(1); see also People v. Bradley (1998) 64 Cal.App.4th 386, 391, fn. 2 [noting that in 1998 section 1385 conferred similar discretion].) In addition, in 1999, the California Rules of Court instructed judges that, if they had discretion, they should strike the additional term for an enhancement rather than striking the allegation of the enhancement (and, thus, striking the enhancement entirely): “If the judge has statutory discretion to strike the additional term for an enhancement, . . . [¶] [t]he judge should not strike the allegation of the enhancement.” (Cal. Rules of Court, former rule 428.) Because “ ‘[r]ules of court have the force of law’ ” (In re I.V. (2017) 11 Cal.App.5th 249, 256), and trial courts are “ ‘ “presumed to have been aware of and followed the applicable law,” ’ ” (People v. Bryant, Smith and Wheeler (2014) 60 Cal.4th 335, 398), we must presume that the trial court did what our reading of the transcript suggests: It struck the punishment for Sanchez’s prison prior. Our reading is also supported by the understanding of all participants in Sanchez’s cases except for the Attorney General in this appeal. When Sanchez’s sentence was announced, the clerk understood that the trial court had imposed a prison prior.

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