Opinion ID: 1801861
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Heading: Overview of California Sentencing Law

Text: (1) Every crime consists of a group of elements laid down by the statute or law defining the offense and every one of these elements must exist or the statute is not violated. This group of essential elements is known as the `corpus delicti,' the body or the elements of the crime. [Citation.] (Fricke, Cal. Criminal Law (1970) p. 26.) A criminal offense is thus a collection of specific factual elements that the Legislature has chosen to define as a crime. Some substantive crimes are further divided into degrees. For example, the substantive crime of burglary is defined by its elements as: (1) entry into a structure, (2) with the intent to commit theft or any felony. (§ 459; see also CALCRIM No. 1700.) [4] If these elements are proven, the crime of second degree burglary has been committed. (§§ 459, 460, subd. (b).) However, if, in addition to these elements, there is also proof that the structure was inhabited at the time of the entry, the crime is elevated from second degree to first degree burglary. (§ 460, subd. (a); see also CALCRIM No. 1701.) [5] First degree burglary is a greater substantive offense than second degree burglary because it requires proof of all the elements of second degree burglary and the additional element that the area entered was used as a dwelling. The Legislature has prescribed a range of determinate sentences for most substantive crimes. (See § 1170.) [6] For example, first degree burglary is punished by a term of either two, four or six years in state prison. (§ 461.) The Legislature has also concluded that some substantive crimes should be punished more severely because of particular facts attendant upon their commission. The Legislature has implemented this policy in several ways. It has provided for greater sentences if certain enhancements are pled and proven. (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.405(3).) Enhancements have their own factual elements, such as the personal use of a firearm (§§ 12022.5, 12022.53) or the infliction of great bodily injury (§ 12022.7). So, a defendant who takes cash from a victim by threatening to strike the victim if he does not surrender the money may be charged with robbery (§ 211). However, if the defendant points a handgun at the victim in order to obtain the money, he may be charged with the substantive crime of robbery and an enhancement allegation that he personally used a firearm to commit the robbery (§ 12022.5). If the jury finds that both the substantive crime and the enhancement have been proven, the defendant may be sentenced to a base term of two, three or five years for the robbery (§ 213, subd. (a)(2)) and an additional term of three, four or 10 years for the use of the firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). The Legislature and California voters have also enacted a parallel sentencing scheme for repeat offenders. ( People v. Anderson (1995) 35 Cal.App.4th 587, 592-593, 595 [41 Cal.Rptr.2d 474].) Under the Three Strikes law, a defendant who is accused of a felony may also be charged with having previously been convicted of other crimes. If the previous convictions meet the statutory definitions of strikes and are proven true, the defendant may be sentenced not to a determinate term, but to an indeterminate term of 15 or 25 years to life. (See §§ 667, 1170.12.) As with enhancements, a jury considering a Three Strikes allegation must separately determine whether the defendant has committed the new substantive felony and whether the allegations of prior strike convictions have been proven. It is well settled that if the jury's finding on a strike allegation is reversed on appeal for insufficient evidence, the allegation may be retried to a new jury. ( People v. Barragan (2004) 32 Cal.4th 236 [9 Cal.Rptr.3d 76, 83 P.3d 480]; People v. Monge (1997) 16 Cal.4th 826 [66 Cal.Rptr.2d 853, 941 P.2d 1121].) (2) The One Strike law (§ 667.61) was added to the Penal Code in 1994. (Stats. 1994, 1st Ex. Sess., ch. 14X, § 1, p. 8570; see People v. Hammer (2003) 30 Cal.4th 756, 766 [134 Cal.Rptr.2d 590, 69 P.3d 436].) Like the Three Strikes law, the One Strike law is an alternative sentencing scheme that applies to certain felony sex offenses. ( People v. Jones (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 693, 709, fn. 9 [68 Cal.Rptr.2d 506].) It mandates an indeterminate sentence of 15 or 25 years to life in prison when the jury has convicted the defendant of a specified felony sex crime (§ 667.61 [listing applicable crimes]) and has also found certain factual allegations to be true (§ 667.61, subds. (d), (e)). Most of these factual allegations concern the manner in which the underlying substantive offense was committed. As with the Three Strikes law and statutory sentencing enhancements, the jury must first decide whether all the elements of the underlying substantive crime have been proven. If not, it returns an acquittal and the case is over. If the jury convicts on the substantive crime, it then independently determines whether the factual allegations that would bring the defendant under the One Strike sentencing scheme have also been proven. Because the sentencing allegations have the potential to increase punishment, the defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to have their truth decided by a jury. ( Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466, 490 [147 L.Ed.2d 435, 120 S.Ct. 2348] ( Apprendi ).) If the jury cannot agree whether the One Strike allegations have been proven, the conviction on the substantive offense stands and a mistrial of necessity is declared as to the factual sentencing allegations. (See People v. Bright (1996) 12 Cal.4th 652, 661-662 [49 Cal.Rptr.2d 732, 909 P.2d 1354] ( Bright ).) [7] Under the One Strike law, certain factual allegations may have the same elements as a substantive offense. Such was the case here. Kidnapping a child to commit a lewd and lascivious act is a substantive offense. (§ 207, subd. (b).) The same conduct may also be alleged as a factual sentencing allegation under the One Strike law. (§ 667.61, subds. (c)(4), (e)(1).) The elements of both the substantive crime and the sentencing allegation are the same. Here, the prosecution charged kidnapping as both a substantive offense and as a sentencing allegation attached to the lewd and lascivious conduct offense. (3) Defendant's first jury found him guilty of the substantive offense of committing a lewd and lascivious act on A.B. (§ 288, subd. (a).) However, because the jury could not agree about whether he kidnapped her for the purpose of committing this offense, it hung on both the substantive kidnapping charge (§ 207, subd. (b)) and the One Strike sentencing allegation (§ 667.61, subd. (e)(1)). These facts demonstrate the flaw in defendant's double jeopardy argument. It is well settled that when the jury convicts a defendant on some counts but hangs on others, resulting in a mistrial, the mistried counts may be tried to a new jury. (§ 1160.) [8] Under defendant's theory, double jeopardy would not prevent a retrial of the substantive kidnapping offenses alleged in counts three and four, but it would bar retrial for the same conduct as a factual sentencing allegation under section 667.61, subdivision (e)(1). As we will explain, this anomalous result is neither consistent with legislative intent nor compelled by constitutional mandate.