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Name: People v. Bueno
Case #: A109650
Opinion Date: 10/19/2006
Division: 5
Citation: 143 Cal.App.4th 1503
Summary

Appellant was sentenced to 25 years to life based on two prior strikes. On appeal, he contended that the prosecutor failed to prove that his 1996 conviction for battery with serious bodily injury was a serious felony for purposes of Three Strikes sentencing. The appellate court agreed, and remanded for retrial of that issue. The prosecutor introduced a plea form and minute order which reflected a plea of no contest to a violation of section 243, subdivision (d), but no admission that the offense was a serious felony, or any advisement that appellant could face enhanced punishment in the future. The prosecutor was required to show that Bueno personally inflicted the injury, rather than that he aided and abetted another, and that the victim was not an accomplice. His prior conviction was only a serious felony if the prosecutor proved these additional facts. Respondent did not claim that the prosecutor proved the additional facts, but instead contended that by pleading no contest to the battery charge, Bueno admitted that the offense was a serious felony, because the information alleged it was a serious felony. However, appellant did not separately admit that the offense was a serious felony, which is required by section 969f.