People v. Smith CA2/4

California Court of Appeal·Decided November 16, 2021·No. B305172·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 11/16/21 P. v. Smith CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

THE PEOPLE, B305172 (Los Angeles County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. TA084803)

v.

TRYON L. SMITH,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Connie R. Quiñones, Judge. Conditionally reversed and remanded, with directions. Juvenile Innocence & Fair Sentencing Clinic, Christopher Hawthorne, Marisa Sacks and Shannon Leap for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, David E. Madeo and Charles S. Lee, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. A jury convicted appellant Tryon L. Smith in 2006 of one count of carjacking (Pen. Code, § 215, subd. (a), count 2),1 two counts of robbery (§ 211, counts 3-4), and one count of assault (§ 240, count 5). Appellant committed the offenses when he was 17 years old. On counts 2 through 4, the jury found that the crimes had been committed for the benefit of a street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)), and that appellant personally used a firearm during the commission of the crimes (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)). Appellant was sentenced to an overall term of 33 years 8 months to life imprisonment. On count 2, the court sentenced appellant to 15 years to life based on an alternate penalty provision not alleged or found true by the jury (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(4)(B)), plus 10 years for the firearm enhancement (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)). On both counts 3 and 4, appellant was sentenced to one year for robbery (one-third the middle- term of three years), plus three years, four months for the firearm enhancement (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)). The court imposed a concurrent one-year term of county jail on count 5. We affirmed appellant’s judgment in 2008 in his direct appeal (see People v. Terrell Barron & Tryon Larry Smith (June 30, 2008, B197621) [nonpub. opn.] (Smith I)), after which the Supreme Court denied appellant’s petition for review. On August 16, 2019, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) identified two errors in appellant’s sentence in a

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. Appellant was tried alongside codefendant Terrell Barron, who is not is a party to this appeal.

2 recommendation letter filed with the court. The CDCR first noted that the indeterminate abstract of judgment on count 2 stated appellant had been sentenced to 15 years to life, whereas the minute order of the sentencing hearing stated appellant had been sentenced to 25 years to life. The CDCR then noted that the determinate sentences on counts 3 and 4 had been improperly subordinated to the indeterminate term on count 2. During a hearing on the recommendation letter, the court declared it was not resentencing appellant, but was correcting discrepancies appearing on the minute order and abstracts of judgment. Without referencing any statute providing for his principal term on count 2, the court stated that appellant was sentenced to 15 years to life on count 2, plus an additional 10 years under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1)(C). Thereafter, the court reaffirmed that appellant’s sentences on counts 3 and 4 were four years, four months for an overall term of 33 years 8 months to life. On this appeal from the resentencing hearing, the parties contend, and we agree, that appellant is entitled to a limited remand in which the court must correct appellant’s unauthorized sentence. In light of that conclusion, however, we agree with appellant that his judgment of conviction is not final for purposes of determining whether Proposition 57, which eliminated the direct filing of criminal complaints against minors, retroactively applies to his case. Appellant is therefore entitled to a transfer hearing under Proposition 57 in which the juvenile court must decide whether prosecution of appellant as an adult is

3 appropriate. We conditionally reverse the conviction, vacate appellant’s sentence, and direct the juvenile court to conduct a transfer hearing. 2

BACKGROUND We previously granted appellant’s request to take judicial notice of the appellate record in Smith I. We have utilized the prior appellate record and the record in this appeal to recite the foregoing background, which we have limited to the relevant procedural history in this case. As provided in its verdict forms, on count 2, the jury found appellant guilty of carjacking (§ 215, subd. (a)), and found true the allegations that appellant had personally used a firearm (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)), and that the “offense was committed for the benefit of, at the direction of and in association with a criminal street gang with the specific intent to promote, further or assist in criminal conduct by gang members within the meaning of . . . section 186.22(b)(1)(A).”3 On counts

2 In light of our conclusion, we do not consider appellant’s alternative contention that the court abused its discretion by denying his request to present evidence relevant to his unauthorized sentence.

3 Section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1) provides: “Except as provided in paragraphs (4) and (5), any person who is convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony . . . of which he or she has been convicted, be punished as follows: “(A) Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), the person shall be punished by an additional term of two, three, or four years at the court’s discretion. [¶] . . . [¶]

4 3 and 4, the jury found appellant guilty of second degree robbery (§ 211), and found true the personal use of a firearm enhancement (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)), and the gang enhancement (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(A)). In its sentencing memorandum in the original sentencing, the prosecution erroneously stated that the jury had found the gang enhancement in count 2 true under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1)(C), rather than the correct provision, subdivision (b)(1)(A). In addition, the prosecution requested sentencing pursuant to subdivision (b)(4)(B) of section 186.22, rather than the correct subdivision, (b)(1)(A)). Subdivision (b)(4)(B) carried an indeterminate term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years.4 The prosecution also requested the imposition of an additional 10 years on count 2 for the firearm enhancement (§ 12022.53, subd. (b)). After reviewing the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum, on February 15, 2007, the court called the matter for a sentencing hearing.

“(C) If the felony is a violent felony, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5, the person shall be punished by an additional term of 10 years.”

4 Subdivision (b)(4) of section 186.22 provides: “Any person who is convicted of a felony enumerated in this paragraph committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that felony, be sentenced to an indeterminate term of life imprisonment with a minimum term of the indeterminate sentence calculated as the greater of: [¶] . . .

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