Error and/or relief
The matter is remanded for the court to consider whether the defendant, serving a Three Strikes life sentence, is entitled to reduction under the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 and other ameliorative provisions at a new hearing under section 1172.75.
First Holding:
SB 483, effective on January 1, 2022, added section 1171.1 to the Penal Code, subsequently renumbered as section 1172.75. This section declares that any sentence enhancement that was imposed prior to January 1, 2020, pursuant to section 667.5(b), except for any enhancement imposed for a prior conviction for a sexually violent offense is legally invalid. The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the county correctional administrator of each county are directed to identify individuals in custody and “currently serving a term for a judgment that includes an enhancement described in section 1172.75(a) and provide the information to the court who sentenced the individuals identified. The court is directed to review the judgment, and if it included a sentencing enhancement described in section 1172.75(a), recall the sentence and resentence the defendant.
Authority:
PEN 1172.75
Second Holding:
The Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 modified the original Three Strikes law of 1994. Under Three Strikes, a third felony of any nature would draw a term of a minimum of 25 years to life if the defendant had previously suffered convictions for two serious felonies (as defined). Under the Reform Act, with certain exceptions, if the current felony is NOT one of the specified serious felony, the sentence would be treated as a two-strike case, in which the sentence would be a doubled determinate sentence rather than a life term.
When a defendant serving a Three Strikes term is resentenced under section 1172.75, the court must modify the Three Strikes term if the triggering third strike was not a serious or violent felony as defined, unless the resentencing would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the public as that term has been construed in the context of the Reform Act. Pursuant to the full resentencing rule, the court may also exercise its sentencing discretion in light of any changed circumstances.
Authority:
People v. Superior Court (Guevara) (2025) 18 Cal.5th 838, 850, 878
People v. Buycks (2018) 5 Cal.5th 857, 893
Third Holding:
With respect to sentencing error in particular, the statutory power of appellate courts to disqualify sentencing judges should be used sparingly and only where the interests of justice require it. The interests of justice require it, for example, where a reasonable person might doubt whether the trial judge was impartial, or where the court’s rulings suggest the ‘whimsical disregard’ of a statutory scheme. Erroneous rulings, without more, are not enough to justify the removal of a trial judge from further proceedings in a case.
Authority:
Peracchi v. Superior Court (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1245, 1256
Hernandez v. Superior Court (2003) 112 Cal.App.4th 285, 303
Blakemore v. Superior Court (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 36, 59–60