Opinion ID: 2519654
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: People v. Cornelius.

Text: A jury convicted defendant David Lewis Cornelius of forcible oral copulation (§ 288a, subd. (c)), forcible sodomy (§ 286, subd. (c)), and five counts of forcible rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(2)). As to each conviction and for purposes of applying the One Strike law, the jury also found he kidnapped the victim in a manner that substantially increased the risk of harm over and above the level of risk necessarily inherent in the underlying offense (§ 667.61, subd. (d)(2)). The jury also convicted Cornelius of kidnapping for sexual purposes. The trial court subsequently found he had sustained prior convictions for assault with intent to commit forcible rape (§ 220) and attempted robbery (§§ 211, 664), and had served prior prison commitments for those prior convictions. Based on these findings, the court sentenced him to a prison term of 230 years to life. As relevant here, that sentence included a term of 75 years to life on count two, which was one of the forcible rape convictions. In calculating the term for this count, the court took the 25-year minimum period of parole ineligibility that, absent the Three Strikes law, would have applied under the One Strike law (§ 667.61, subd. (a)), and tripled it under option 1 of the Three Strikes law. On appeal, Cornelius challenged only his sentence, arguing in part that the trial court erred in applying the Three Strikes law to triple the One Strike law's minimum period of parole ineligibility and impose a term of 75 years to life for his conviction on count two. The Court of Appeal disagreed, relying on People v. Ervin (1996) 50 Cal.App.4th 259, 57 Cal. Rptr.2d 728, and rejecting Cornelius's reliance on our decision in People v. Jefferson (1999) 21 Cal.4th 86, 86 Cal.Rptr.2d 893, 980 P.2d 441 ( Jefferson) . We granted Cornelius's petition for review, limiting the issues to whether the trial court correctly imposed a 75-year minimum term for his life sentence on count two.