Here a “second strike” defendant was sentenced in Placer County for receiving stolen property. The Placer County sentencing took place after defendant was sentenced in El Dorado County for a burglary he committed before he committed the receiving offense. Defendant received a four-year sentence from El Dorado County (the middle term of two years doubled for a strike). Placer County followed Penal Code section 1170.12, subdivision (a)(8), which invokes the subordinate term provisions of section 1170.1, subdivision (a), and imposed the middle term of two years, doubled to four years, under section 1170.12, subdivision (c)(1). It then resentenced defendant on the El Dorado County conviction, imposing 1/3 of the middle term of 2 years (eight months), and doubled it. The Attorney General argued that under section 1170.12, subdivision (a)(8), the Placer County sentence was to be served after the El Dorado County sentence was served. The Court of Appeal rejected this construction and upheld the sentence imposed by the trial court. Justice Blease dissented, reiterating his previously expressed view that the doubling provision applies only to the “current” offense, here the Placer County conviction, and that the sentence for the El Dorado County conviction should have been imposed per Penal Code section 1170.1, subdivision (a), as an eight month consecutive sentence.
Case Summaries