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Name: People v. Keith
Case #: B255005
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 5
Opinion Date: 04/06/2015
Summary

Defendant’s sentence for possession of crack cocaine for sale is reduced based on the Legislature’s January 1, 2015 reduction in penalty for that offense. A jury convicted Keith of possessing cocaine base for sale (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351.5). He received the upper term of five years for the possession for sale count. He appealed. Held: Sentence reversed. Prior to January 1, 2015, the punishment triad for violating section 11351.5 was three, four, or five years in custody. Effective January 1, 2015, that section was amended to reduce the punishment to two, three, or four years, the Legislature having determined that the disparity in punishment between offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine was unjust. Under In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740, Keith is entitled to the ameliorative effect of this reduction in punishment because the new law contains no savings clause and his case is not yet final.