People v. Superior Court (Guevara)

Summary

The California Supreme Court held that Penal Code section 1172.75 may constitutionally be used to recall and resentence a nonserious, nonviolent third-strike offender whose sentence includes invalid prior prison term enhancements. To avoid an unconstitutional amendment of the voter-enacted Three Strikes Reform Act, the court construed section 1172.75 to incorporate the Reform Act’s discretionary public-safety override. The court concluded that the Reform Act’s revised penalty provisions may apply at a section 1172.75 resentencing.

Holdings

1. Section 1172.75 permits application of the Reform Act's revised penalty provisions at resentencing for a nonserious, nonviolent third-strike offender whose sentence is recalled because it includes an invalid prior-prison-term enhancement.
2. Applying the Reform Act's revised penalty provisions through section 1172.75 does not unconstitutionally amend the Reform Act when section 1172.75 is construed to incorporate the Reform Act's substantive public-safety limitation.
3. A defendant resentenced under section 1172.75 need not file a separate section 1170.126 petition or satisfy section 1170.126's two-year filing deadline or good-cause requirement, although the defendant must satisfy the substantive public-safety limitation incorporated from section 1170.126.
4. The case must be remanded for a new present-day public-safety determination. If resentencing under the Reform Act would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, the superior court must reimpose an indeterminate term; otherwise, and if Guevara is otherwise eligible, it must resentence him under the Reform Act's revised penalty provisions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Penal Code section 1172.75, when applied to a nonserious, nonviolent third-strike offender serving an indeterminate sentence, permits application of the Reform Act's reduced sentencing provisions.
2. Whether applying the Reform Act's reduced sentencing provisions through section 1172.75 unconstitutionally amends voter-enacted Penal Code section 1170.126 in violation of article II, section 10 of the California Constitution.
3. Whether section 1172.75 incorporates section 1170.126's discretionary public-safety determination while not requiring the procedural requirements applicable to a standalone section 1170.126 petition.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded