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Filed 5/16/13 P. v. Tillman CA3 

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for 

publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication 

or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. 

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT 

(Sacramento) 

----

THE PEOPLE, 

 Plaintiff and Respondent, 

 v. 

DERRICK DION TILLMAN, 

 Defendant and Appellant. 

C070879 

(Super. Ct. No. 09F09412) 

 A jury convicted defendant Derrick Dion Tillman of one count of evading a peace 

officer, one count of possessing a firearm as a felon, and two related counts of carrying a 

firearm. (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a); former Pen. Code, §§ 12021, subd. (a)(1), 

12025, subd. (b)(6), & 12031, subd. (a)(2)(F), respectively.1) 

 Defendant was sentenced under the three strikes law to 50 years to life in state 

prison, based on consecutive 25-year-to-life sentences for the police evasion and the 

 

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 
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felon firearm possession convictions; the trial court stayed the sentences on the two 

firearm-carrying convictions under section 654. (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12.) 

 On appeal, defendant contends (1) the trial court misunderstood and abused its 

discretion in imposing the two consecutive 25-year-to-life terms; (2) the 50-year-to-life 

sentence is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual; and (3) defense counsel was ineffective 

for failing to argue that the trial court should strike the prior “strike” conviction(s) as to 

one of the two current convictions sentenced upon, as authorized by People v. Garcia 

(1999) 20 Cal.4th 490 (Garcia). We reject contention (1); we agree with contention (3), 

vacate the sentence, and remand to the trial court for resentencing to permit it to exercise 

its discretion as authorized by Garcia; and we decline to address contention (2) at this 

stage, in light of the sentencing remand. We also correct a clerical error brought to our 

attention. 

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 

 Defendant, a parolee at large, led peace officers on a short pursuit after they 

sought to apprehend him on December 29, 2009. 

 When well-marked officers descended upon defendant as he was backing his car 

out of a residential driveway, he ignored their surrender commands and instead drove off, 

nearly striking a patrol car. 

 A half-mile vehicle pursuit ensued that encompassed speeds up to 50 miles per 

hour, the running of a stop sign and a traffic light, the taking of evasive action by other 

drivers, and the discard from defendant’s vehicle of a loaded .38-caliber revolver and 

about an ounce of marijuana. 

 Defendant eventually pulled into a parking lot, stopped his car, and got out with 

his hands up. Along for the ride was defendant’s adult son. 
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 A search of defendant’s car disclosed a black ski mask, black gloves, two 

additional black beanies, several plastic baggies, and a pair of binoculars. 

 As noted, this is a three strikes case. Defendant’s two prior strikes comprised a 

1993 conviction for attempted armed robbery and a 1999 conviction for armed robbery 

(sometimes referred to as a conviction in 1998 or 2000). (Defendant, who was born in 

1969, also has a 1992 conviction for residential burglary that qualifies as a strike 

conviction but that offense was not charged as a strike here.) 

 After denying defendant’s motion under section 1385 and People v. Superior 

Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero) to “strike” the 1993 attempted armed 

robbery conviction as a prior strike, and sentence defendant instead to a determinate 

“two-strike” sentence as to each of the two current convictions sentenced upon (the 

police evasion and the felon firearm possession), the trial court sentenced defendant to 

the three-strike sentence of 50 years to life, as noted. 

DISCUSSION 

I. Two Consecutive Sentences on Current Felony Convictions 

 Defendant contends the trial court misunderstood the scope of its consecutive 

sentencing discretion and, if it understood its discretion, it abused that discretion by not 

imposing concurrent sentences on the two current felony convictions sentenced upon 

(police evasion and felon firearm possession). We disagree. 

 The trial court imposed consecutive sentences, reasoning: “The[se] [two] crimes 

and their objectives . . . were predominantly independent of each other . . . .” 

 The three strikes law requires “that sentencing on distinct current offenses be 

consecutive . . . .” (Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th at p. 500, italics added.) The trial court 

understood this legal requirement and did not abuse its discretion in finding the two 

sentenced current crimes “distinct”—i.e., predominantly independent of one another. 
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Neither of these two offenses facilitated the other, nor was one carried out to undertake 

the other. (See People v. Ratcliff (1990) 223 Cal.App.3d 1401, 1410 [“the crime [of 

firearm possession by a felon] is committed the instant the felon in any way has a firearm 

within his control”] original italics omitted; our italics added; People v. Jones (2002) 

103 Cal.App.4th 1139, 1148 [the crime of felon firearm possession “uniquely targets the 

threat [in and of itself] posed by felons who possess firearms”].) 

 We conclude the trial court properly sentenced consecutively the current 

convictions for police evasion and felon firearm possession. 

II. Ineffective Assistance of Defense Counsel 

A. Background 

 As noted, defense counsel unsuccessfully argued, in a Romero motion (Romero,

supra, 13 Cal.4th 497), that defendant did not deserve a three-strike life sentence; counsel 

asked the trial court to “strike” one of defendant’s two prior strike convictions—his 1993 

conviction for attempted armed robbery—as to the two current felony convictions 

sentenced upon (police evasion and felon firearm possession), “in the interest of justice in 

an effort to provide a [two-strike] determinate [rather than a three-strike life] sentence.” 

(Italics added.) 

 What defense counsel did not do at sentencing, however, was to follow up his 

unsuccessful Romero motion with a Garcia motion (Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th 490) to 

strike one of defendant’s prior strike convictions as to one of the two current convictions 

being sentenced upon, but not as to the other. The Garcia motion, if successful, would 

have resulted in defendant being sentenced to 25 years to life on one of the two current 

convictions, plus some form of much lower consecutive sentence for the other current 

conviction. (See Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th at pp. 495, 500; see also Veh. Code, § 2800.2, 

subd. (a) [police evasion] and Pen. Code, former § 12021, subd. (a)(1) [felon firearm 
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possession] [both of these offenses have a sentencing triad of 16 months/two years/three 

years] .) 

 In denying defendant’s Romero motion, the trial court made an extensive record 

that provides the backdrop and essentially all we need to know to resolve the issue of 

ineffective assistance of counsel that defendant raises here based on Garcia. 

Consequently, we will now quote liberally from the trial court’s record, and then use that 

record to resolve the Garcia-based ineffective assistance claim. 

 In denying defendant’s Romero motion in April 2012, the trial court stated as 

relevant (some parts of the trial court’s remarks have been quoted out of order, for 

organizational purposes of this opinion): 

 “[P]erhaps it would be more simple and clear or predictable if the law was such 

that the third strike had to be a serious felony. That is not the law today, and the Court is 

bound and obligated to apply the law as it is today.[2] 

 “And Penal Code [section] 1385 and People v. Gurrero [sic; Romero] 13 Cal.4th 

487 [sic; 497] give the Court discretion to strike a prior conviction after a consideration 

of defendant’s background, the present case, and other individualized considerations, and 

the Court has done that. . . . 

 “The current offenses are not violent. However the current offense involved a 

felony evading of peace officers at the time the defendant was a parolee at large. [The 

offense involved] a high-speed chase in a residential area with at least one school 

[nearby,] . . . albeit less than a mile, . . . including running through a stop sign, and during 

 

2 After the trial court sentenced defendant, the California electorate in November 2012 

passed Proposition 36, which has modified the three strikes law in a manner suggested by 

the trial court. Proposition 36 is not before us in this appeal, and we express no views on 

it. 
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this chase the defendant threw out a loaded firearm . . . , and . . . his son dropped a bag of 

marijuana . . . . 

 “One of the appropriate considerations for the court is what would be the potential 

sentence if a [prior] strike [conviction] was struck, and the maximum the court could 

impose if the court struck a prior would be seven years four months [i.e., an aggregate 

two-strike, doubled consecutive term for the police evasion and the felon firearm 

possession, as noted in the probation report]. [(Italics added.)] . . . 

 “Both prior convictions are violent felonies per [section] 667.5 of the Penal Code.” 

The first prior strike conviction is from 1993 for attempted armed robbery. Defendant 

“entered a McDonald’s wearing a ski mask, pulled a gun to a customer’s neck, demanded 

that the customer give him the gold, when the victim tried to grab the gun defendant 

struck the victim in the neck with his hand. He discharged the gun after he demanded the 

money from an employee, and he said to another employee [trying to flee], ‘stop or I will 

shoot you.’ ” The second prior strike conviction is from 1999 for armed robbery. “And 

in that robbery he pointed a shotgun at a victim and forced him to give defendant 

everything. He then pointed the gun at another person at an apartment complex.” 

 “There has been no break or any significant . . . period of law abidingness from 

when the defendant was a juvenile to when [he] was 40 years old.” He has juvenile 

adjudications for misdemeanor battery (1984) and felony cocaine possession (1987). 

Besides the two prior strike convictions found here, he has adult convictions for carrying 

a loaded firearm (1990); cocaine transportation (1991); residential burglary (1992—a 

strike conviction itself, the trial court noted, which was dismissed during the sentencing 

proceeding on the 1999 robbery conviction, giving defendant a break at that point and a 

chance to turn his life around then); obstructing an officer (1996); and a pending driving 

under the influence case (2011). 
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 “[S]o, as I said, he never had a significant period of law abidingness, and although 

for me the choices are not ideal ones, I do believe 50 years to life is too high, . . . these 

decisions the Court makes on . . . Romero motions are the hardest decisions I believe the 

Court makes. [(Italics added.)] 

 “However, applying the law, Romero, and Williams [(People v. Williams (1998) 

17 Cal.4th 148) further explaining Romero], and Penal Code [section] 1385, given this 

record, the Court cannot say that the defendant falls outside of the spirit of the three 

strikes law. . . . [T]he Court would also like to point out that while being on parole 

[defendant’s] had . . . five violations. So the [C]ourt is, after . . . individualized 

consideration involving the defendant, the Court is going to deny [the Romero] motion to 

strike the prior [strike] conviction.” 

B. Analysis 

 In Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th 490, our state Supreme Court held that a trial court, in 

applying the three strikes law in sentencing on more than one current felony conviction, 

may exercise its discretion under section 1385 to dismiss a prior strike conviction with 

respect to one current conviction but not another. (Id. at pp. 492-493.) In short, under 

Garcia, prior strike convictions may be stricken on a current conviction-by-conviction 

basis. 

Garcia noted that a trial court’s ultimate determination in sentencing under the 

three strikes scheme is whether a defendant—considering his present felonies, his prior 

strike convictions, and his background, character and prospects—“ ‘may be deemed 

outside the scheme’s spirit, in whole or in part.’ ” (Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th at pp. 498-

499, quoting People v. Williams, supra, 17 Cal.4th at p. 161.) Garcia further explained 

that a defendant’s overall sentence under the three strikes law is “a relevant consideration 

when deciding whether to strike a prior [strike] conviction . . . ; in fact, it is the 

overarching consideration because the underlying purpose of striking prior [strike] 
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conviction[(s)] [under section 1385] is the avoidance of unjust sentences.” (Garcia, at 

p. 500.) 

 Defendant contends his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to 

argue that the trial court should strike the prior strike conviction(s) on a current 

conviction-by-conviction basis, as contemplated by Garcia. We agree. As we shall 

explain, after the trial court denied defendant’s Romero motion to strike his 1993 robbery 

conviction as to both of his current convictions being sentenced (and make this matter a 

second strike case as to each current conviction—the police evasion and the felon firearm 

possession), defense counsel was ineffective for failing to make a Garcia motion to strike 

the 1993 robbery conviction as to one of the two current felony convictions being 

sentenced. 

 To establish ineffective assistance of counsel, defendant must show (1) that 

counsel failed to act as a reasonably competent attorney, and (2) that prejudice resulted 

(i.e., there is a reasonable probability defendant would have fared better in the absence of 

counsel’s failings). (People v. Gates (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1168, 1183, disapproved on 

another point in People v. Williams (2010) 49 Cal.4th 405, 459.) 

 Defendant has shown that his counsel failed to act as a reasonably competent 

attorney. There is no conceivable reason for defense counsel not to have made a Garcia 

motion following the denial of the Romero motion, given the trial court’s remarks 

regarding the disparate sentencing choices legally available—approximately seven years 

versus 50 years. Defendant had nothing to lose and decades of sentence reduction to 

possibly gain through a Garcia motion. (E.g., defendant could have been sentenced 

under the three strikes law to 25 years to life for one of his current felonies, and to a 

much lower second strike or simple consecutive sentence on the other current felony—

see Garcia, supra, 20 Cal.4th at pp. 495, 500; Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a); and Pen. 

Code, former § 12021, subd. (a)(1).) 
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 Likewise, defendant has also shown his counsel’s ineffectiveness prejudiced him. 

In denying defendant’s Romero motion to make this a second strike case as to both 

current felony convictions being sentenced (police evasion and felon firearm possession), 

the trial court remarked that granting the Romero motion would result in a “maximum” 

sentence of only “seven years four months.” But the trial court later remarked that while 

it “believe[d] 50 years to life is too high,” and the sentencing “choices are not ideal 

ones,” this lengthy sentence was compelled by Romero. In short, the trial court’s remarks 

at the hearing on defendant’s Romero motion show the court believed the seven-year 

four-month sentence was too low, and the 50-year-to-life sentence too high. 

 Perhaps Garcia furnished the “ideal” sentencing choice, but defense counsel failed 

to strike, so to speak, while the iron was hot. The trial court considered only a Romero 

motion to render this case a second strike determinate sentence case as to both of the 

current convictions. Defense counsel never presented the Garcia alternative to the trial 

court. Neither did the probation report, which framed its sentencing recommendations 

exclusively in terms of defendant’s two prior strike convictions being stricken (yielding a 

sentence of three years eight months); one prior strike conviction being stricken (a 

sentence of seven years four months); and no prior strike convictions being stricken (a 

sentence of 50 years to life). 

 In light of defense counsel’s ineffective assistance of counsel, we vacate 

defendant’s sentence of 50 years to life and remand to the trial court for resentencing to 

permit it to exercise its discretion as authorized by Garcia. 

III. Clerical Errors 

 We agree with both parties that the abstract of judgment and sentencing minute 

order fail to accurately reflect the main jail booking fee of $270.17 and the main jail 

classification fee of $51.34, as ordered by the trial court. We will order these clerical 

errors corrected. (People v. Mitchell (2001) 26 Cal.4th 181, 185.) 
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DISPOSITION 

 Defendant’s sentence is vacated and we remand this matter to the trial court for 

resentencing to permit it to exercise its discretion as authorized by Garcia, supra,

20 Cal.4th 490. The trial court is directed to correct the abstract of judgment to reflect a 

main jail booking fee of $270.17 and a main jail classification fee of $51.34, and to send, 

after resentencing, a certified copy of the abstract to the Department of Corrections and 

Rehabilitation reflecting the resentencing proceeding and changes to the sentence, if any, 

and the correction of these two fee amounts. In all other respects, the judgment is 

affirmed. 

 BUTZ , J. 

We concur: 

 NICHOLSON , Acting P. J. 

 ROBIE , J.