Court Opinion

ID: 9947950
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-05 22:03:15.228287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:28:47.665263
License: Public Domain

Filed 3/5/24 P. v. Pettis CA4/1
                 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for
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or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

                COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                                 DIVISION ONE

                                         STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE,                                                          D082450

         Plaintiff and Respondent,

         v.                                                          (Super. Ct. No. SCN192841)

MILTON ALLEN PETTIS,

         Defendant and Appellant.

         APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County,
Brad A. Weinreb, Judge. Affirmed as modified.
         Heather L. Beugen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for
Defendant and Appellant.
         Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant
Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General,
A. Natasha Cortina, Christopher P. Beesley, Deputy Attorneys General, for
Plaintiff and Respondent.
         A jury convicted Milton Allen Pettis of conspiring to commit murder.

(Pen. Code,1 §§ 182, subd. (a)(1), 187, subd. (a).) The Court found that Pettis

1        Future undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.
committed the offense for the benefit of a gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) and
sentenced Pettis to an indeterminate term of 25 years to life for the
conspiracy to commit murder, plus 10 years for the gang enhancement. The
court stayed the enhancement.
      Pettis appeals, contending the 10-year gang enhancement should be
deleted. We agree and direct the judgment to be modified accordingly. As
modified, the judgment is affirmed.
                               BACKGROUND

      Pettis is a member of the Deep Valley Crip gang.2 He conspired with
other members of his gang to murder members of a rival gang in 2004 and
2005. The People charged Pettis with conspiracy to commit murder. A jury
convicted Pettis in 2007 and the court sentenced him to an indeterminate
term of 25 years to life and imposed but stayed an additional 10-year term
under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1). Pettis sought resentencing under
section 1172.6 but was unsuccessful. He now appeals asserting the 10-year
gang enhancement is unlawful and necessitates modification of the abstract
of judgment. The People concede this sentencing error.
                                 DISCUSSION
      As part of Pettis’s sentence, the court imposed a 10-year gang
enhancement under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1). This was error. A
conspiracy to commit murder carries the same punishment for first degree
murder. (§§ 182, 190, subd. (a).) Because Pettis’s conspiracy to commit
murder conviction “is a violent felony that is punishable by imprisonment in
the state prison for life,” it is “not subject to a 10-year enhancement under
section 186.22(b)(1)(C).” (People v. Lopez (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1002, 1004

2     We provide an abbreviated summary of the facts because they are not
relevant to the issue on appeal.
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(Lopez).) Instead, subdivision (b)(5) applies to impose a minimum term of 15
years before the defendant can be considered for parole. (Id. at pp. 1005–
1011; see People v. Ortiz (1997) 57 Cal.App.4th 480, 485–486; § 186.22, subd.
(b)(5).) The People concede that the court erred and do not oppose
modification of the sentence. We agree that modification is appropriate. The
sentence is therefore modified as follows: the 10-year gang enhancement is
vacated and a 15-year minimum parole eligibility term under section 186.22
subdivision (b)(5) is imposed instead. (Lopez, at pp. 1004, 1011.)
                                DISPOSITION
      The sentence on the 10-year gang enhancement is vacated and a
15-year minimum parole eligibility term under section 186.22, subdivision
(b)(5) is imposed instead. The court is directed to prepare a corrected
abstract of judgment reflecting the defendant’s sentence as modified and to
forward the corrected abstract of judgment to the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation. As modified, the judgment is affirmed.

                                                                HUFFMAN, J.

WE CONCUR:

McCONNELL, P. J.

BUCHANAN, J.

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