Filed 3/21/22 P. v. Gomez CA4/1

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COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

CHASE RYAN GOMEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

 D078770

 (Super. Ct. No. SCN413225)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, 

Michael D. Washington, Judge. Affirmed as modified with directions. 

Matthew R. Garcia, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for 

Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant 

Attorney General, Daniel Rogers, Acting Assistant Attorney General, 

Charles C. Ragland and James H. Flaherty III, Deputy Attorneys General, 

for Plaintiff and Respondent.
2

In February 2021, Chase Ryan Gomez pleaded guilty to one count of 

assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen. Code,1 § 245, 

subd. (a)(4)). The court accepted the plea agreement and placed Gomez on 

probation for two years, subject to various terms and conditions. 

At the sentencing hearing, Gomez objected to several proposed 

conditions. Among those objected to were a condition forbidding use of 

alcohol and one forbidding the use or possession of marijuana. Neither 

substance played any part in the events involved in the offense. The court 

struck the alcohol condition but declined to strike the marijuana condition. 

The only discernable difference apparent in the record is the statement of the 

probation officer that Probation did not think it appropriate for people on 

probation to possess marijuana.

Gomez appeals, challenging only the decision to impose the marijuana 

condition of probation.

The Attorney General agrees that the court erred in imposing the 

marijuana condition on the record before us. We agree with the parties that

the condition is not consistent with the decision in People v. Lent (1975) 15 

Cal.3d 481 (Lent). We will remand the case to the superior court with 

directions to strike the challenged condition.2

DISCUSSION

Possession and use of marijuana by adults are now legal in California. 

Here, possession or use of marijuana had no part in the offense or played any 

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 The facts of the offense are not relevant to the resolution of this appeal, 

except that the parties agree the use or possession of marijuana was not 

involved in the offense or the facts leading to it. We will therefore omit the 

traditional statement of facts.
3

role in Gomez’s history of substance abuse. We must examine the condition 

in light of the limitations placed on probation conditions by the decision in 

Lent.

Trial courts have broad discretion in selecting conditions of probation 

they think would assist in the rehabilitation of the offender and which would 

also help prevent further criminal behavior. (People v. Carbajal (1995) 10 

Cal.4th 1114, 1120.) Where the proposed conditions are preventing or 

requiring that which is otherwise lawful, the conditions are subject to some 

limitations.

Probation conditions can be declared invalid if all three of the 

conditions set forth in Lent are present. Specifically, (1) the condition has no 

relationship to the crime for which the offender was convicted, (2) relates to 

conduct which is not in itself criminal, and (3) requires or forbids conduct 

which is not reasonably related to future criminality. (Lent, supra, 15 

Cal.3d at p. 486.) 

Gomez and the Attorney General argue all three Lent factors are 

present here. Possession of marijuana in this instance is legal and had no 

part in the current offense or Gomez’s criminal history. The court offered no 

reason for the condition save the probation officer’s view that probationers 

should not use or possess marijuana. Since the court struck the alcohol 

condition, even though Gomez had a prior drunk driving offense, but imposed 

the marijuana condition with no history of abuse, the decision to overrule the 

objection was acceptance of the probation officer’s blanket requirement for 

probationers. Plainly, the court had no basis to impose the condition over a 

timely objection, and therefore, we will agree with the parties that the 

condition must be removed.
4

DISPOSITION

The matter is remanded to the superior court with directions to strike 

the condition prohibiting Gomez from lawfully possessing or using marijuana. 

In all other respects,the judgment is affirmed.

HUFFMAN, Acting P. J.

WE CONCUR:

AARON, J.

DO, J.