In October 2023, the trial court resentenced defendant to a term of one year four months (one-third the midterm) for the GBI enhancement, rather than the three, four, or five year sentence required by statute. This was unauthorized, and as such, the court was entitled to increase the aggregate sentence in order to correct that unlawfully lenient sentence. However, the Court of Appeal held that the trial court was not authorized to increase the aggregate sentence by increasing the sentence for the burglary count from the midterm to the upper term. That portion of the sentence was not unauthorized, and therefore the increase in the aggregate sentence from the October 2023 resentencing that was due to the imposition of the upper term had no “nexus to the original illegality in the sentence.” The court remanded for resentencing.
Panel Victories
