Opinion ID: 2552553
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Indeterminate Term Issue

Text: As to count four, the jury found defendant guilty of kidnapping for robbery under section 209, subdivision (b). With regard to this count, it also found true that the victim suffered bodily harm and death, and that defendant intentionally inflicted great bodily injury on her. The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of life imprisonment without possibility of parole on this count. Defendant contends the court erred. We agree. At the time of the crime, section 209, subdivision (b), provided: Any person who kidnaps or carries away any individual to commit robbery shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with possibility of parole. (Stats.1990, ch. 55, § 3, p. 394, italics added.) It appears the trial court relied On section 209, subdivision (a), for the sentence it imposed. Subdivision (a) provides that the sentence for kidnapping for ransom is life without the possibility of parole when bodily harm is involved. (See People v. Nguyen (2000) 22 Cal.4th 872. 884, 95 Cal.Rptr.2d 178, 997 P.2d 493.) However, as we explained in Nguyen, in 1976, section 209 was reconfigured, segregating the crime of kidnapping for ransom, extortion or reward into subdivision (a) of the section and that of kidnapping for robbery into subdivision (b). ( Ibid. ) In contrast to section 209, subdivision (a), [t]he new subdivision (b) of section 209 ... made no reference to bodily harm, nor did it retain the increased penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. ( People v. Nguyen, supra, at pp. 884-885, 95 Cal.Rptr.2d 178, 997 P.2d 493.) In other words, by its terms the statute did not carry over [from the prior version of section 209] to the crime of kidnapping for robbery, now set forth in new section 209, subdivision (b), a linkage of `bodily harm' with an increased penalty. ( People v. Nguyen, supra, at p. 885, 95 Cal.Rptr.2d 178, 997 P.2d 493.) Because defendant was convicted of kidnapping for robbery under section 209, subdivision (b), rather than kidnapping for ransom under section 209, subdivision (a), the punishment for that count should have been life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Accordingly, we will modify the judgment to change the sentence on count 4 from life imprisonment without possibility of parole to life imprisonment with possibility of parole.