Opinion ID: 3037316
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: analysis

Text: [1] The State Crime. Diaz points to the apparent mildness of his state sentence — 109 days in the San Bernardino County Jail and two years probation — and argues that he was convicted of a misdemeanor. The minute order of the state court, relied on by the federal district court, is not a judicial record that can be relied upon to prove the contrary. See Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 125 S. Ct. 1254, 125960 (2005). Diaz’s argument would have force if it were not for the peculiarities of the statute under which he was convicted. The statute provides: § 245. Assault with deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury; punishment UNITED STATES v. DIAZ-ARGUETA 5323 (a)(2) Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a firearm shall be pun- ished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not less than six months and not exceeding one year, or by both a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and imprisonment. Cal. Penal Code §245(a)(2) (West 1996). In the parlance of California law enforcement, a violation of the statute is a wobbler that may be punished either as a felony or as a misdemeanor. As the United States Supreme Court explains, “Under California law, a ‘wobbler’ is presumptively a felony and remains a felony except when the discretion is actually exercised to make the crime a misdemeanor.” Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11, 16 (2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). [2] California Penal Code § 17(b) provides two ways in which a court may exercise such discretion. This statute distinguishes between misdemeanor and felony convictions under wobbler statutes in the following manner: When a crime is punishable, in the discretion of the court, by imprisonment in the state prison or by fine or imprisonment in the county jail, it is a misdemeanor for all purposes under the following circum- stances: (1) After a judgment imposing a punish- ment other than imprisonment in state prison.