Error and/or relief
The trial court prejudicially erred in imposing the upper term based on the aggravating circumstance that the defendant’s prior convictions as an adult or sustained petitions in juvenile delinquency proceedings are numerous or of increasing seriousness, without either a true finding by a jury or the defendant’s admission.
First Holding:
Section 1170(b)(2) provides that the trial court may impose a sentence exceeding the middle term only when aggravating circumstances justify imposition of an upper term sentence, and the facts underlying those circumstances have been stipulated to by the defendant or have been found true beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Authority:
PEN 1170(b)(2)
Second Holding:
This trial right is not merely a state law entitlement, but is constitutionally required. Under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution, any fact that exposes a defendant to a greater potential sentence must be found by a jury, not a judge, and established beyond a reasonable doubt, not merely by a preponderance of the evidence.
Authority:
People v. Wiley (2025) 17 Cal.5th 1069, 1078
People v. Lynch (2024) 16 Cal.5th 730, 755-767
Erlinger v. United States (2024) 602 U.S. 821, 834 [Virtually any fact that increases the prescribed range of penalties to which a criminal defendant is exposed must be resolved by a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt (or freely admitted in a guilty plea).]
Third Holding:
The only exception to this rule is the fact of a prior conviction. A court may consider the defendant’s prior convictions in determining sentencing based on a certified record of conviction without submitting the prior convictions to a jury. Allegations of prior convictions may be tried by the court alone and proven by certified records of conviction. However, this exception is narrow. A judge may do no more, consistent with the Sixth Amendment, than determine what crime, with what elements, the defendant was convicted of.
Authority:
People v. Wiley (2025) 17 Cal.5th 1069, 1079, 1083, 1084 [any fact, beyond the bare fact of a prior conviction, that exposes a defendant to harsher punishment, must be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, unless the defendant stipulates to its truth or waives a jury trial]
Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466, 490
People v. Lynch (2024) 16 Cal.5th 730, 742, 757 [Excluding properly proven prior convictions or a defense stipulation, a jury finding is now required for all facts actually relied on to impose an upper term.]
Erlinger v. United States (2024) 602 U.S. 821, 838
Fourth Holding:
Two aggravating factors under the rules of court—the increasing seriousness of a defendant’s prior convictions (rule 4.421(b)(2)) and unsatisfactory performance on probation (rule 4.421(b)(5))—involve something more than a narrow factual finding that the convictions were sustained and what elements were required to prove them. Accordingly, a defendant is entitled to a jury trial on those two factors before the factors can be used to justify an upper term sentence.
Authority:
People v. Wiley (2025) 17 Cal.5th 1069, 1082-1085
Fifth Holding:
When a defendant is deprived of a jury trial on aggravating facts used to justify imposition of an upper term sentence, the reviewing court must apply the standard of review under Chapman. Under that standard, a sentence imposed under section 1170(b) must be reversed and remanded unless the reviewing court concludes beyond a reasonable doubt that a jury, applying that same standard, would have found true all of the aggravating facts upon which the court relied to conclude the upper term was justified, or that those facts were otherwise proved true in compliance with the current statute.
Lack of a jury trial is not harmless under Chapman if the record contains evidence that could rationally lead to a contrary finding with respect to the aggravating fact at issue.
Authority:
People v. Wiley (2025) 17 Cal.5th 1069, 1087
Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18
Sixth Holding:
The facts supporting every aggravating circumstance upon which the trial court relies to justify imposition of the upper term must be properly proven.
Authority:
People v. Lynch (2024) 16 Cal.5th 730, 757