Error and/or relief
It was error for the court to resentence the defendant as a third strike offender, because the prior convictions counted as strikes were all based on a single act against multiple victims, and must count as only a single strike, subjecting the defendant to only as a second-strike offender.
Holding:
Shaw held a defendant who commits a single criminal act that harms multiple victims earns one strike for purposes of Three Strikes sentencing, not multiple. In this case, the defendant’s five prior convictions arose from a single act of threatening five hostages with a [specified weapon]. All but one of the defendant’s strikes should be dismissed, and the court should resentence him as a second-strike offender.
Authority:
People v. Shaw (2025) 18 Cal.5th 1089, 1103 [the rule that a trial court is required to dismiss a strike when two of a defendant’s prior strikes are the result of the same act applies in cases in which the defendant’s single act harmed multiple victims]