People v. Jefferson

• Citation: 980 P.2d 441,86 Cal.Rptr.2d 893,21 Cal.4th 86
• Decision Date: 02 August 1999
• Docket Number: No. S057834,S057834
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 980 P.2d 441, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6170, 1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 7869 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Walter JEFFERSON et al., Defendants and Appellants

Page 893

86 Cal.Rptr.2d 893

21 Cal.4th 86, 980 P.2d 441, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6170,

1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 7869

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Walter JEFFERSON et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. S057834.

Supreme Court of California

Aug. 2, 1999.

Jennifer Mack, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Walter Jefferson.

John Steinberg, Berkeley, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Andre Brown.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Assistant Attorney General, Marc E. Turchin, Sanjay T. Kumar, William T. Harter, Jaime L. Fuster, Lance E. Winters, Carol Frederick Jorstad and James William Bilderback II, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

KENNARD, J.

The "Three Strikes and You're Out Law" (Pen.Code, § 667, subds. (b)-(i), hereafter the Three Strikes law), ¹ requires that a defendant who is convicted of a felony and has a prior conviction for a "strike" (a violent or serious felony) be sentenced to double the prison term for the defendant's "current felony conviction." For instance, a defendant who has a prior strike and is convicted of a felony for which the prescribed sentence is nine years will have that sentence doubled to eighteen years. If the current felony is punished by an indeterminate term of imprisonment, the Three Strikes law requires a doubling of the "minimum term" the defendant must serve. (§ 667, subd. (e)(1), hereafter section 667(e)(1).) For example, a defendant who has a prior strike and who is convicted of a felony punishable by a term of 15 years to life in prison will receive a sentence of 30 years (2 times 15 years) to life.

In this case, defendants, each of whom had a prior strike, were convicted of attempted willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder (hereafter attempted premeditated murder). Under the applicable punishment provision (§ 664) attempted premeditated murder is punishable by life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, which both parties agree is an indeterminate prison term. But section 664 says nothing about service of a minimum term subject to doubling under section 667(e)(1). Thus we must determine whether other statutes establish a minimum term for defendants' life sentences.

We have found two such provisions: section 3046 and former subdivision (b)(2), now subdivision (b)(4), of section 186.22 (hereafter section 186.22(b)(4)). Under section 3046, a defendant sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole must, before becoming eligible for release on parole, serve "at least seven calendar years" or a term established pursuant to any "other section of law" that "establishes a minimum period of confinement" in prison. Here, the "other section of law" is section 186.22(b)(4). It provides that when a defendant commits a felony "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members" (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) and receives an indeterminate sentence, the defendant "shall not be paroled until a minimum of 15 calendar years have been served." (§ 186.22(b)(4).) By requiring a defendant to serve at least 15 years of imprisonment before parole, section 186.22(b)(4), read together with section 3046, establishes a minimum term of 15 years that is subject to doubling under section 667(e)(1) of the Three Strikes law.

I

Defendant Andre Brown was a member of the Southside Village Crips, a criminal street gang; defendant Walter Jefferson The jury convicted each defendant of two counts of attempted premeditated murder. (§§ 664, subd. (a), 187, 189.) It also found true allegations that they committed the crimes on behalf of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)), that defendant Jefferson personally used a firearm in committing the crimes (§ 12022.5), and that defendant Jefferson personally inflicted great bodily injury on victim Hernandez (§ 12022.7). Each defendant also admitted a prior serious felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)), which also constituted a prior conviction under the Three Strikes law (§ 667, subds. (b)-(i)).

was an "associate" of that gang. On the night of September 11, 1994, both defendants and Damian Sharply, another gang member, approached three teenagers on a street corner in Pomona, California. Defendant Jefferson opened fire, injuring one of them, Jose Hernandez, in the hip. At trial, the prosecution presented evidence that the shooting was gang related.

The trial court sentenced defendant Jefferson to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole on the first count of attempted premeditated murder. The court doubled that sentence by adding a second term of life in prison because of Jefferson's prior strike, and it imposed a third life sentence for the second count of attempted premeditated murder. The court also sentenced Jefferson to three years in prison for the great bodily injury enhancement, five years for the firearm-use enhancement, and five years for the prior serious felony enhancement. In addition, the court ordered Jefferson to serve 15 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole, based on the jury's finding that the crimes fell within the criminal street gang sentencing provision. In all, the court sentenced Jefferson to 3 life terms plus 13 years, with a parole ineligibility period of 15 years.

The trial court sentenced defendant Brown to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for the first count of attempted premeditated murder. Because of Brown's prior strike, the trial court doubled that sentence by adding a second term of life in prison, and it imposed a third life sentence for the second count of attempted premeditated murder. It also sentenced Brown to five years in prison for the prior serious felony enhancement. And because the jury found true the criminal street gang allegation, the court ordered Brown to serve 15 years before becoming eligible for parole. Brown's total sentence: three life terms plus five years, with a parole ineligibility period of fifteen years.

Both defendants appealed. The Court of Appeal affirmed the convictions, after striking from each judgment one life term and the 15-year parole ineligibility period imposed under the criminal street gang provision.

In striking the 15-year parole ineligibility period the trial court had imposed under the criminal street gang statute, the Court of Appeal reasoned: "Although [the] 15-year period of confinement [without parole] applies, ... this is not a matter which the trial court imposes in sentencing the convicted felon. Instead, it is a matter addressed by the Board of Prison Terms in determining the prisoner's parole eligibility status."

The Court of Appeal also faulted the trial court for doubling defendants' life sentences under the Three Strikes law. The court observed that the sentence of a defendant who has one prior strike must be doubled if a determinate sentence is imposed, and the minimum term of a defendant with one prior strike must be doubled if he or she has been given an indeterminate sentence. The court concluded that in this case sentence-doubling was improper because both defendants were sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, which the court viewed as an indeterminate sentence with no minimum term.

We granted the Attorney General's petition for review.

II

In 1994, the Legislature enacted the Three Strikes law (§ 667, subds. (b)-(i)). Later that year, the voters passed an initiative virtually identical to the legislative version. (§ 1170.12.)

Under the Three Strikes law, if a defendant is convicted of a felony, and the trial court or jury finds one or more prior strikes (convictions for certain violent or serious felonies), sentencing proceeds under the Three Strikes law "[n]otwithstanding any other law." (§ 667, subd. (c).) The law contains two separate sentencing schemes: one for defendants with one prior strike, which we have here, and the other for defendants with two or more prior strikes. Relevant in this case is section 667(e)(1), which states: "If a defendant has one prior felony conviction that has been pled and proved, the determinate term or minimum term for an indeterminate term shall be twice the term otherwise provided as punishment for the current felony conviction."

III

Under California law, most felonies carry a "determinate" prison sentence consisting of a specific number of months or years in prison. Some serious felonies, however, carry an "indeterminate" sentence, which means the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment but the Board of Prison Terms can in its discretion release the defendant on parole.

Some indeterminate sentences expressly include a minimum prison term. For example, the punishment for second degree murder is ordinarily "a term of 15 years to life," while first degree murder generally carries "a term of 25 years to life." (§ 190, subd. (a).) ² Other statutes specifying indeterminate sentences do not mention a minimum term, describing the sentence simply as "imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole" or "imprisonment in the state prison for life." In this category are sentencing provisions for attempted premeditated murder (§§ 664, subd. (a), 187, 189)--the provision at issue here--as well as aggravated mayhem (§ 205), torture (§ 206.1), kidnap for ransom without bodily harm (§ 209, subd. (a)), kidnap for robbery or sexual assault (§ 209, subd. (b)), kidnap during carjacking (§ 209.5, subd. (a)), nonfatal train wrecking (§ 219), attempted murder of peace officer or firefighter (§§ 664, subd. (e), 187), exploding a destructive device with intent to kill (§ 12308), and exploding a destructive device that causes mayhem or great bodily injury (§ 12310, subd. (b)).

When a defendant is convicted of a...