Error and/or relief
The sentencing minutes must be corrected to reflect the orally pronounced sentence.
First Holding:
The court imposed the middle term, to be served in the local jail. The trial court did not orally pronounce any restrictions on the defendant’s custodial sentence. On the trial court’s sentencing minutes, a box is checked next to the phrase “no early release of any type authorized,” and there are handwritten notations stating, “NO CPAC/NO WORK FURLOUGH.” [CPAC refers to the “County Parole and Alternative Custody Unit.”] The abstract of judgment does not reflect these restrictions.
In a criminal case, it is the oral pronouncement of sentence that constitutes the judgment. The clerk cannot supplement the judgment the court actually pronounced by adding a provision to the minute order and the abstract of judgment. In the event of a discrepancy between the oral pronouncement of judgment and a minute order or an abstract of judgment, the oral pronouncement controls.
Authority:
People v. Scott (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 1303, 1324
People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185
People v. Zackery (2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 380, 387–388
People v. Gobert (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 676, 689
People v. Farell (2002) 28 Cal.4th 381, 384, fn. 2 [The record of the oral pronouncement of the court controls over the clerk’s minute order]
Second Holding:
The reporter’s transcript of the sentencing hearing includes no explicit indication that the trial court was foreclosing the possibility of custody-alternative programs or early release. The clerk’s sentencing minutes imposing such restrictions therefore conflict with the trial court’s oral pronouncement of sentence. It follows that we must correct the discrepancy by ordering the trial court to modify the minute order.
Authority:
People v. Zackery (2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 380, 388 [striking sentencing conditions included in the clerk’s minutes that were not orally pronounced]
People v. Gobert (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 676, 689