People v. Martinez

Citation230 Cal.Rptr.3d 673,413 P.3d 1125,4 Cal.5th 647
Decision Date29 March 2018
Docket NumberS231826
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court (California)
Parties The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Mario MARTINEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

Cindi Beth Mishkin, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Sylvia W. Beckham, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina, Meagan J. Beale, Parag Agrawal, Steven T. Oetting, Michael Pulos and Warren J. Williams, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LIU, J.

In November 2014, California voters enacted Proposition 47, which reduced certain drug- and theft-related offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. The initiative also authorizes inmates currently serving sentences for a reclassified crime to petition the court for resentencing: "A person who, on November 5, 2014, was serving a sentence for a conviction, whether by trial or plea, of a felony or felonies who would have been guilty of a misdemeanor under the act that added this section (this act) had this act been in effect at the time of the offense may petition for a recall of sentence before the trial court that entered the judgment of conviction in his or her case to request resentencing in accordance with Sections 11350, 11357, or 11377 of the Health and Safety Code, or Section 459.5, 473, 476a, 490.2, 496, or 666 of the Penal Code, as those sections have been amended or added by this act." ( Pen. Code, § 1170.18, subd. (a).)

Defendant Mario Martinez filed a petition for resentencing on two felony convictions for offenses he committed in 2007: one for possession of methamphetamine, the other for transportation of methamphetamine. The district attorney agreed that Proposition 47 reduced the possession offense to a misdemeanor, and the trial court found Martinez eligible for resentencing on that offense. But the trial court, observing that Proposition 47 did not expressly reduce the transportation offense to a misdemeanor, found Martinez ineligible for resentencing on the transportation offense.

On appeal, Martinez argued that he is eligible for resentencing on the transportation offense because the electorate passed Proposition 47 against the backdrop of a 2013 enactment providing that transportation of drugs without intent to sell is no longer a felony. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, holding that only offenders convicted of a felony offense enumerated in Proposition 47's resentencing provision may have their crimes reduced to misdemeanors.

As our recent opinion in People v. Page (2017) 3 Cal.5th 1175, 1182–1187, 225 Cal.Rptr.3d 786, 406 P.3d 319 ( Page ) indicates, this reasoning by the Court of Appeal was erroneous. But the Court of Appeal further explained that Martinez is ineligible for resentencing because "[i]f Proposition 47 had been in effect when defendant committed his offense in 2007, he would still be guilty of a felony not covered by Proposition 47...." We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal on this latter ground.

I.

In May 2007, police arrested Martinez after stopping a car in which he was a passenger and discovering a plastic bag containing methamphetamine near his feet. A jury convicted him of transportation of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, former § 11379, as amended by Stats. 2001, ch. 841, § 7) and possession of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, former § 11377, as amended by Stats. 2002, ch. 664, § 131). (All undesignated statutory references are to the Health and Safety Code.) The trial court sentenced Martinez to eight years in state prison for the transportation offense and to four additional years in light of his prior convictions, for a total sentence of 12 years. The court stayed his sentence for the possession offense pursuant to Penal Code section 654. The judgment became final in 2010.

Section 11379 prohibits the illegal transportation of certain controlled substances, including methamphetamine. At the time that Martinez's conviction became final, the statute prohibited the unlawful transportation of a controlled substance for any reason. (See People v. Rogers (1971) 5 Cal.3d 129, 137, 95 Cal.Rptr. 601, 486 P.2d 129 ( Rogers ) [illegal transportation of marijuana "requires only a knowing transportation ... whether for personal use, sale, distribution or otherwise"]; People v. Eastman (1993) 13 Cal.App.4th 668, 673–677, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d 608 ( Eastman ) [affirming conviction for transportation of methamphetamine intended solely for personal use].) The transportation element of the offense was satisfied so long as the defendant knowingly moved the substance a minimal distance. (See People v. Ormiston (2003) 105 Cal.App.4th 676, 682, 129 Cal.Rptr.2d 567 [" ‘The crux of the crime of transporting is movement of the contraband from one place to another.’ "]; People v. Emmal (1998) 68 Cal.App.4th 1313, 1318, 80 Cal.Rptr.2d 907.)

In 2013, the Legislature narrowed the transportation statute by specifying that "[f]or purposes of this section, ‘transports' means to transport for sale." (Assem. Bill No. 721 (2013–2014 Reg. Sess.) § 2; see Health & Saf. Code, § 11379, subd. (c).) In light of this amendment to section 11379, the possession and movement of methamphetamine for personal use, without intent to sell, can be charged only as a possession offense under section 11377. (See Assem. Com. on Pub. Saf., Rep. on Assem. Bill No. 721 (2013–2014 Reg. Sess.) Feb. 21, 2013, p. 3.)

In November 2014, the voters passed Proposition 47, The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which reduced certain drug- and theft-related offenses from felonies or "wobblers" to misdemeanors. Proposition 47 reclassified some offenses by amending the statutes that defined those crimes. As relevant here, Proposition 47 amended section 11377 to punish as a misdemeanor the possession of a controlled substance. (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 4, 2014) text of Prop. 47, § 13, p. 73 (Voter Information Guide).) In other instances, Proposition 47 added new provisions to the Penal Code carving out a lesser crime from a preexisting felony (see id. , § 5, p. 71 [creating Penal Code section 459.5 to distinguish the misdemeanor of "shoplifting" from the felony of burglary] ) or redefining how a term is understood throughout the California Codes (see id. , § 8, p. 72 [adding Penal Code section 490.2 to lower the potential punishment for certain categories of grand theft "[n]otwithstanding ... any other provision of law defining grand theft"] ). Through its various provisions, Proposition 47 made clear that certain types of criminal conduct once punishable as felonies now constitute only misdemeanors.

Proposition 47 also established a process through which an offender currently serving a sentence for a reclassified crime may petition the trial court to have his or her punishment reduced. That procedure is set forth in Penal Code section 1170.18(a), which we discuss further below.

On November 13, 2014, Martinez petitioned the court for resentencing on both of his convictions pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.18(a). The district attorney, while agreeing that his sentence should be reduced for the possession conviction under former section 11377, argued that Martinez was ineligible for resentencing on his transportation conviction under former section 11379. Martinez countered that at the time of Proposition 47's enactment, the conduct underlying his transportation conviction could have been charged only as a possession offense and thus he should be sentenced as a misdemeanant for that conviction as well.

The trial court granted Martinez's petition as to the possession conviction but denied it as to the transportation conviction, finding that Proposition 47 did not apply to convictions under former section 11379. In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeal affirmed the partial denial. Observing that Penal Code section 1170.18(a) authorizes resentencing in accordance with a list of nine statutory provisions and that section 11379 does not appear in the list, the Court of Appeal concluded that the Legislature intended to exclude section 11379 from reclassification. The court also rejected Martinez's argument that the 2013 amendments to section 11379 were made applicable to his conviction via Proposition 47. We granted review.

II.

We begin with the Court of Appeal's reasoning that Martinez is ineligible for resentencing because section 11379 is not one of the nine code sections enumerated in Penal Code section 1170.18(a). As we recently explained, the requirement that resentencing occur "in accordance with" one of the nine code sections listed in Penal Code section 1170.18(a) does not make resentencing eligibility contingent upon the petitioner having been convicted under one of those provisions. ( Page , supra , 3 Cal.5th at p. 1184, 225 Cal.Rptr.3d 786, 406 P.3d 319.) It is illogical to limit Proposition 47-eligible felonies only to convictions under the listed statutes because, as noted above, two of the listed statutes ( Penal Code sections 459.5 and 490.2 ) were themselves created by Proposition 47, "which means that no defendant could have been serving a felony sentence for these offenses on the initiative's effective date." ( Page , at p. 1185, 225 Cal.Rptr.3d 786, 406 P.3d 319 ; see People v. Romanowski (2017) 2 Cal.5th 903, 910, 215 Cal.Rptr.3d 758, 391 P.3d 633.) A "straightforward reading" of Penal Code section 1170.18(a)'s text led us to conclude in Page that defendants convicted of a felony for stealing vehicles worth $950 or less, including under Vehicle Code section 10851 (a provision not listed in Penal Code section 1170.18(a) ), are eligible for resentencing because they "would have been guilty only of a misdemeanor had [Penal Code] section 490.2 been in effect at the time." ( Page , at pp. 1187, 1184, 225 Cal.Rptr.3d 786, 406 P.3d 319.)

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    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • April 30, 2019
    ...47 made clear that certain types of criminal conduct once punishable as felonies now constitute only misdemeanors." (People v. Martinez (2018) 4 Cal.5th 647, 651.) The initiative also provided that "[a] person who has completed his or her sentence for a conviction, whether by trial or plea,......
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