In re Thomas Floyd Brissette

Summary

The California Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, considers whether Penal Code section 1172.2, governing compassionate release, can be harmonized with Penal Code section 1170.1, subdivision (c), concerning consecutive sentences for offenses committed in prison. The court concludes that the statutes are reconcilable and that section 1172.2 contemplates a single court determining a compassionate-release petition. The court denies Thomas Floyd Brissette’s petition for writ of habeas corpus.

Holdings

1. Penal Code section 1172.2 requires a single court to resolve an inmate's compassionate-release petition.
2. Penal Code sections 1172.2 and 1170.1, subdivision (c), are reconcilable and operate concurrently.
3. A section 1170.1, subdivision (c) Thompson term is a separate and distinct component of a single total sentence, and the court that most recently imposed that term is the sentencing court for purposes of section 1172.2, subdivision (i).

Questions Presented

1. Whether Penal Code section 1172.2, governing compassionate release, is irreconcilable with Penal Code section 1170.1, subdivision (c), governing consecutive sentences for felonies committed in state prison.
2. Whether section 1172.2 requires one court or multiple courts to determine a compassionate-release petition when an inmate has an outside-prison sentence and a consecutive in-prison sentence.
3. Whether a section 1170.1, subdivision (c) Thompson term is a separate sentence or a separate component of one aggregate sentence for purposes of identifying the sentencing court under section 1172.2.

Disposition

writ_denied