People v. Cooper

Summary

The California Supreme Court held that Penal Code section 2933.1 limits presentence conduct credits to 15 percent for a defendant convicted of murder, including a defendant sentenced under the 1978 voter-approved version of Penal Code section 190. The court concluded that applying the limitation did not unlawfully amend the Briggs Initiative because the initiative's reference to Penal Code article 2.5 concerned postsentence prison conduct credits and did not specifically address presentence credits. The court reversed the Court of Appeal's ruling on the credits issue and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Penal Code section 2933.1 applies to limit Cooper's presentence conduct credits to 15 percent of his actual presentence confinement.
2. Applying section 2933.1's presentence-credit limitation did not constitute an invalid legislative amendment of the Briggs Initiative.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Penal Code section 2933.1's 15 percent limitation on presentence conduct credits applies to a defendant convicted of murder and sentenced under the 1978 version of Penal Code section 190.
2. Whether applying section 2933.1 to Cooper's sentence constituted an invalid legislative amendment of the voter-approved Briggs Initiative.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded