Opinion ID: 776953
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Provisions of The California Three Strikes Law

Text: 4 As Andrade summarizes in detail the pertinent background and features of California's so-called three strikes law (Three Strikes), Cal.Penal Code §§ 667(b)-(i) and 1170.12, we do so only briefly here. See 270 F.3d at 747-48. Unless otherwise stated, all statutory citations are to the California Penal Code. 5 A defendant with two or more prior strikes — that is, certain felony convictions — who is convicted of a felony must be sentenced under the Three Strikes statute to no less than 25 years to life, § 667(e)(2)(A), and cannot receive good time credits to reduce his sentence below the mandatory minimum term of 25 years. In re Cervera, 24 Cal.4th 1073, 103 Cal. Rptr.2d 762, 16 P.3d 176, 181 (2001). Only serious felonies, see § 1192.7(c), or violent felonies, see § 667.5(c), count as prior strikes. § 667(d)(1). The current offense that triggers the Three Strikes penalties, however, may be any felony under California law. § 667(e)(2)(A). It is this latter feature that led to life sentences for minor thefts in Andrade and in these cases. 6 Petty theft — theft of goods or money worth less than $400, §§ 487, 488 — is a misdemeanor, carrying a maximum sentence of 6 months in jail, § 490. Petty theft with a prior — that is, when committed after a conviction and time served for petty theft, grand theft, auto theft, burglary, carjacking, robbery, or receiving or concealing stolen property — is punishable either as a misdemeanor with up to one year in county jail or as a felony with up to three years in state prison. §§ 666, 496, 18. 7 A conviction of petty theft with a prior as a felony can count as the triggering offense for purposes of Three Strikes, People v. Terry, 47 Cal.App.4th 329, 54 Cal. Rptr.2d 769, 770-71 (1996), leading to two unusual features of California recidivism law. First, the core conduct of petty theft with a prior is, in the first instance, classified as a misdemeanor rather than a felony. Andrade, 270 F.3d at 760. Where petty theft with a prior results in a felony conviction, the petty theft offender's recidivism can be double counted, so as initially to transform the misdemeanor of petty theft into a felony and then to count it as the basis for a life sentence. Id. at 759-60; see also Riggs v. California, 525 U.S. 1114, 119 S.Ct. 890, 142 L.Ed.2d 789 (1999) (Stevens, J., memorandum opinion respecting the denial of the petition for writ of certiorari). 8 Second, if petty theft is committed after multiple prior convictions for non-theft offenses, including serious and violent offenses, then the petty theft must be charged as a misdemeanor and cannot trigger Three Strikes' enhancements. See § 666. So, for example, if Bray's or Brown's prior convictions had all been for assault or manslaughter, neither could have been sentenced to 25 years to life for his petty theft conviction; only a six-month misdemeanor sentence would have been possible. See § 490, 666.