Error and/or relief
The defendant claims the trial court erred in sentencing him to five years in prison, and alternatively asserts the court was unaware of its discretion to strike the enhancement in the earlier case. The People concede the trial court did not appreciate its discretion but argue it did not err because the original sentencing court would not have struck the enhancement. We vacate defendant’s sentence and remand for resentencing but otherwise affirm the judgment.
First Holding:
The trial court erred because it failed to understand its discretion to correct what we conclude was an unauthorized sentence. We will remand to allow the court to exercise its informed discretion to correct the unauthorized sentence and resentence defendant. A sentence is unauthorized when it could not lawfully be imposed under any circumstances.
Authority:
People v. Martinez (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 1511, 1516-1517
Second Holding:
The original sentencing court was required to either suspend imposition of a sentence or impose and suspend execution of a sentence before placing defendant on probation. Instead, the original sentencing court did not pronounce a sentence for the underlying driving under the influence offense but imposed and suspended execution of the great bodily injury enhancement. As a result, we conclude the original sentencing court’s oral pronouncement of judgment was unauthorized. To determine the sentence imposed by the first sentencing court, we look to the oral pronouncement of the sentence. Where there is a discrepancy between the oral pronouncement of judgment and the minute order, the oral pronouncement controls. Ordinarily, this principle of law would let us apply the trial court’s oral pronouncement of judgment as the definitive sentence, but here the sentence orally pronounced was unauthorized. The record cannot be harmonized to correct the unauthorized sentence.
Authority:
PEN 1203.1
People v. Hill (1986) 185 Cal.App.3d 831, 834 [an aggregate prison term is not a series of separate independent terms, but one term made up of interdependent components–the invalidity of one component infects the entire scheme]
People v. Price (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 224, 243
People v. Zackery (2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 380, 385
Third Holding:
Defendants are entitled to sentencing decisions made in the exercise of the informed discretion of the sentencing court. A court that is unaware of the scope of its discretionary powers can no more exercise that informed discretion than one whose sentence is or may have been based on misinformation regarding a material aspect of a defendant’s record. In such situations, the appropriate remedy is to remand for resentencing unless the record clearly indicates that the trial court would have reached the same conclusion had it been aware of the scope of its discretion.
Authority:
People v. Gutierrez (2014) 58 Cal.4th 1354, 1391