Legislation

The Court of Appeal agreed with the parties that Assembly Bill No. 518, which modified Penal Code 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 court ordered the matter remanded for resentencing and stated the appellant may then raise his arguments regarding Senate Bill No. 567, which amended section 1170 to require the trial court to impose the lower term if the defendant was under 26 years of age on the date the offense was committed, “unless the court finds that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances [so] that imposition of the lower term would be contrary to the interests of justice.” (§ 1170, subd. (b)(6)(B); see § 1016.7, subd. (b).)