The Court of Appeal agreed with the parties that the appellant’s case must be remanded for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (b), which generally limits the trial court’s ability to impose an upper term sentence unless aggravating circumstances have been stipulated to by the defendant or found true beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury or by the court in a court trial. Although the trial court “may consider the defendant’s prior convictions in determining sentencing based on a certified record of conviction without submitting the prior convictions to a jury (§ 1170, subd. (b)(3)),” the probation report, which was the only document in the record containing the appellant’s criminal history, was not a certified record of conviction.
Name: People v. Clark
Case #: C096179
Opinion Date: 04/17/2023
Attorney: Francine R. Tone
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