When resentencing a defendant under Proposition 47 (Pen. Code, § 1170.18), the trial may not impose a parole term that exceeds the scheduled end date of the defendant’s post release community supervision (PRCS). In 2011, Pinon pled guilty to possession of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11377, subd. (a)) and possession of drug paraphernalia (Health & Saf. Code, § 11364). He was sentenced to 16 months in prison. After his release from prison, Pinon was placed on PRCS that was set to expire in April 2015. Thereafter, the voters passed Proposition 47 and, in December 2014, Pinon filed a petition to reduce his felony possession of methamphetamine conviction to a misdemeanor. The court granted his petition, gave him credit for time served, but, over his objection, imposed one year of parole that would extend through December 2015. Pinon appealed, arguing that the court should have imposed a shorter period of parole. Held: Reversed and remanded. Resentencing under Proposition 47 cannot “result in the imposition of a term longer than the original sentence.” (Pen. Code, § 1170.18, subd. (e).) After applying statutory construction principles, the Court of Appeal concluded that “[p]ermitting a court to impose a full year of parole supervision even beyond that to which the defendant was subject under a felony sentence would render the punishment more severe with no apparent justification at all.” The proper calculation “is to apply excess custody credits to the one-year period of parole, and if that parole term exceeds what remains on PRCS, to reduce the parole period to coincide with the end date of defendant’s PRCS.” The court also struck the requirement to register pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 11590, which limits registration to felony convictions.
Case Summaries