Court Opinion

ID: 9723559
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:20:04.069464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:49.745927
License: Public Domain

EVANS, J.
I concur in the judgment and the reasoning in both the published and unpublished portions of the opinion.
*607The proof or lack thereof offered by the People to establish the prior prison terms for crimes enumerated in Penal Code section 667.7, for habitual offender enhancements, compels my concurrence. The defendant was allowed to simply admit his prior prison sentence for robbery, “while armed,” and admitted no more as to that offense, nor did the People offer more with reference to the armed allegation. Had the People chosen to establish the circumstances of the presence of the firearm during the robbery, it may well have fallen into the category of circumstances described by the California Supreme Court in People v. Chambers (1972) 7 Cal.3d 666 [102 Cal.Rptr. 776, 498 P.2d 1024], and would have sufficed for purposes of the habitual offender statute. In Chambers, the court also stated, “Although the use of a firearm connotes something more than a bare potential for use, there need not be conduct which actually produces harm but only conduct which produces a fear of harm or force by means or display of a firearm in aiding the commission of one of the specified felonies. ‘Use’ means, among other things, ‘to carry out a purpose or action by means of,’ to ‘make instrumental to an end or process,’ and to ‘apply to advantage.’ [Citation.] The obvious legislative intent to deter the use of firearms in the commission of the specified felonies requires that ‘uses’ be broadly construed” (P. 672, italics mine.)
In order to “broadly construe” the terms involved, i.e., “while armed” or “personally uses,” the circumstances surrounding the presence of the firearm, absent an admission of use, must be established; in this instance, the proof was not sufficient to invoke the habitual offender enhancement and must therefore be set aside.
I write separately to say that I would remand the matter to the trial court for further proceedings to permit the establishment of the circumstances of the armed allegation involved in one of the prior prison terms for purposes of sentencing, if possible; if the circumstances then indicate a possession of something more than a “bare potential for use” to impose the enhancement. If the proof does not meet that standard, the enhancement for the habitual criminal status must be stricken. In all other respects, I concur in the majority opinion.
Appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied June 17, 1987.