Category Archives: Abstracts and Minutes

Abstracts and Minutes, Fines and fees, Sentencing

Case 000797

Posted on by Gary McCurdy

Error and/or relief

The abstract of judgment mistakenly reflects that the trial court imposed financial obligations for court operations and conviction assessments and the abstract erroneously indicates the restitution fines were not stayed. It must be corrected.

First Holding:

The trial court stated a compelling reason for staying an otherwise mandatory restitution fine: any income the defendant earned would be better directed toward paying the direct restitution to the victim that the court did order.

Authority:

People v. Mercer (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th 463, 467 [we draw all inferences in favor of the judgment]

Second Holding:

The abstract of judgment shall be corrected to reflect that the trial court stayed the section 1202.4, subdivision (b), restitution fines, and the financial obligations from the court operations and conviction assessments shall be struck. (Gary note: the court cited no authority for ordering the correction of the abstract of judgment, but there are many cases it could have relied on. I have set forth a few below for your convenience.)

Authority:

People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185

People v. Delgado (2008) 43 Cal.4th 1059, 1070

People v. Leon (2020) 8 Cal.5th 831, 855

In re Black (1967) 66 Cal.2d 881, 890

People v. Zackery (2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 380, 385

People v. Farell (2002) 28 Cal.4th 381, 384, fn. 2

Abstracts and Minutes, Fines and fees

Case 000793

Posted on by Gary McCurdy

Error and/or relief

The abstract of judgment contains an error that must be corrected.

Holding:

Our review of the record reveals a discrepancy between the trial court’s oral pronouncement and the abstract of judgment. Specifically, the abstract of judgment indicates that the trial court lifted the stay on the mandatory probation revocation fine of $300 after revoking defendant’s probation. The trial court’s oral pronouncement did not address a probation revocation fine nor lift a stay on a probation revocation fine.

Moreover, a probation revocation fine under section 1202.44 was never imposed in defendant’s probation case. Therefore, there was no probation revocation fine for which a stay could be lifted. When there is a discrepancy between the court’s oral pronouncement and the clerk’s minute order or the abstract of judgment, the record of the oral pronouncement controls.

We have inherent authority to correct errors to accurately reflect the “oral judgments of sentencing courts. Accordingly, we strike the $300 probation revocation fine (sec. 1202.44) included in the abstract of judgment. We order the abstract of judgment corrected to conform to the trial court’s oral pronouncement of judgment.

Authority:

People v. Farell (2002) 28 Cal.4th 381, 384, fn. 2

People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185

Abstracts and Minutes

Case 000775

Posted on by Gary McCurdy

Error and/or relief

The abstract of judgment contains errors in conflict with the oral pronouncement of judgment, and it must be corrected.

Holding:

We direct the trial court to correct the errors in the abstract of judgment.

Authority:

People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185

Abstracts and Minutes, Sentencing

Case 000772

Posted on by Gary McCurdy

Error and/or relief

In light of  Kopp, which was decided while this appeal was pending, we will remand for reconsideration of the restitution and parole revocation fines.

First Holding:

We note that the abstract of judgment indicates that the restitution and parole revocation fines were $300 each, yet the trial court in its oral pronouncement imposed restitution and parole revocation fines of $1,800 each. Ordinarily, the oral pronouncement of judgment controls.

Authority:

People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185

Second Holding:

Here, however, the trial court imposed a restitution fine (and corresponding parole revocation fine) exceeding the statutory minimum before the recent guidance issued by the Supreme Court in Kopp. Because the record is silent as to whether the trial court considered the defendant’s ability to pay or any other excessive fine factor, we will vacate those fines and remand for further proceedings in light of Kopp.

Authority:

People v. Kopp (2025) 19 Cal.5th 1

Abstracts and Minutes, Sentencing

Case 000769

Posted on by Gary McCurdy

Error and/or relief

The final abstract of judgment does not accurately reflect the defendant’s custody credits. We remand the matter with instructions to modify the final abstract of judgment.

First Holding:

When a defendant is resentenced following an appellate sentence remand, the sentencing court must determine all actual time the defendant has already served and recalculate the defendant’s actual custody credits.

Authority:

People v. Buckhalter (2001) 26 Cal.4th 20, 29

Second Holding:

The court determined that the defendant was in custody for [period A, more than 240 days] from arrest to original sentencing, and [period B, more than 1,000 more days] between the sentencing and resentencing hearings. The two numbers should have been added together to arrive at the total credit for time served. The abstract, however, treated the two numbers separately, listing the larger number [period B] as actual days in custody and the smaller number [period A] as conduct credits instead of actual days in custody, resulting in a failure to reflect an additional [more than 35 days] of conduct credit on [period A]. We direct the court to prepare an amended abstract of judgment.

Authority:

People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 188 [appellate court may order modification of inaccuracies in abstract of judgment]

People v. Moore (1991) 226 Cal.App.3d 783, 788 [modifying judgment to correct conduct credits]