Effect of Strikes on More Than One Current
Conviction |
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When a defendant is convicted of more than one crime, one of his
current convictions is named the principal conviction, and the others are
called subordinate. The subordinate convictions normally receive one-third of
the middle of the three terms identified by the legislature for those offenses.
The Three Strikes law calls for both the principal and the subordinate terms to
be doubled if there is one prior strike. As a result, the subordinate terms
ends up being twice one-third (i.e., two-thirds) of the middle term. (People
v. Nguyen (1999) 21 Cal.4th 197, 200.) The principal term will be double
the term selected by the judge (that is, the upper, middle, or lower of the
three terms identified by the legislature, depending on whether the aggravating
factors are greater, the same, or less than the mitigating factors.) By
statute, the terms for the principal and the subordinate counts must run
consecutively. (People v. Martin (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 656.)
In People v.Riggs (2001) 86 Cal.App.4th 1126, the Third District
considered the case of a second strike defendant who was sentenced in Dorado County
for burglary and then sentenced in Placer County for receiving stolen property. Relying
on Penal Code section 1170.1, the trial court in Placer County resentenced the defendant
on the Dorado conviction, which it considered the subordinate term, giving him
one-third the middle term, doubled because of the one prior. On the Placer County
conviction, he was given the middle term, doubled. These were to run consecutively.
The People appealed, arguing that the original Dorado County sentence (the middle
term, doubled) should have been left intact, with the Placer County sentence
consecutive to it. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court, sparing the defendant
the longer sentence sought by the People.
If
the current felony is punished by an indeterminate term of imprisonment, the
sentence-doubling requirement of section 667(e)(1) results in a doubling of the
minimum term the defendant must serve. (People v. Jefferson (1999) 21 Cal.4th 86.) If no minimum term is stated in the statute that
sets the sentence for the current felony, the minimum term is considered to be
the parole ineligibility period. (Ibid.)
Sentencing third-strikers whose current offense carries a life sentence is discussed
in the section "Calculating the Minimum Term of the Indeterminate Life Sentence for
A Third-Striker."
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3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 10/4/02.
