The Court of Appeal agreed with the parties that the trial court erred when it imposed a $300 parole revocation fine under Penal Code section 1202.45 after sentencing him to life without the possibility of parole. Section 1202.45 is not applicable unless the sentence includes a determinate prison term. The court and parties further agreed that Assembly Bill No. 518, which modified section 654 to give trial courts the discretion to choose the count on which to impose punishment (instead of having to choose the one that provided for the longest potential term of imprisonment), applies retroactively to the appellant’s case. The record did not clearly indicate that the trial court would have imposed the same sentence if it had been aware that it had discretion to do so. The court modified the judgement to strike the parole revocation fine and fine and ordered the matter remanded for resentencing pursuant to amended section 654.
Name: People v. Phillips
Case #: F081859
Opinion Date: 11/28/2022
Attorney: David L Polsky
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