California Felony Sentencing
A criminal conviction generally consists of two components: a determination of guilt and the imposition of a sentence. In California, a misdemeanor conviction may result in a sentence of up to 364 days in county jail.
For a felony conviction, a person can be placed on probation or sentenced to state prison. When a person is sentence to probation, as a term of probation a jail sentence can be imposed and that sentence can not be longer then 365 days. When a defendant is sentenced to state prison, the prison sentence usually includes a range of low term, middle term and high term – for example 2 years for low term, 3 years for middle term and 4 years for high term. This range will depend on a crime with many offenses carrying the lowest prison sentence of 16 months, two years, or three years. For more serious cases, a sentence can extend to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
This “triad” of sentences in California is known as the determinate sentencing law. Each offense is assigned a triad of possible terms: a lower term, a middle term, and an upper term. The court selects one of these terms based on the circumstances of the offense and the defendant’s criminal record.
For example, a felony DUI offense may carry a sentencing triad of 16 months (low term), 2 years (middle term), and 3 years (upper term). Accordingly, a defendant who is sentenced to state prison for a felony DUI, and who is not granted probation, will receive one of these three possible terms depending on the court’s evaluation of aggravating and mitigating factors.
SENTENCE ENHANCEMENTS
In California, in addition to the base conviction for an offense, the Penal Code provides for various sentencing enhancements that can increase the amount of time a defendant must serve and, in some cases, change the classification of the offense. Certain enhancements may also qualify the offense as a “strike” under California’s Three Strikes law, depending on the nature of the conduct.
For example, using a weapon can be filed as an enhancement and adds additional time to potential jail time. Being in prison before can also be filed as a sentence enhancement.
One of the most significant enhancements in the context of DUI cases is the Great Bodily Injury (GBI) enhancement under Penal Code § 12022.7. This enhancement applies when a defendant personally inflicts great bodily injury on another person during the commission of a felony. A DUI that results in a injury to another person where that injury is a broken bone or require stitches will qualify as a “GBI”. S
If found true, the GBI enhancement adds an additional and consecutive term of three years to the underlying felony sentence. It also has important other consequences. A felony with a GBI enhancement is classified as a “violent felony” under Penal Code § 667.5(c), which means the defendant must serve at least 85% of the sentence, rather than being eligible for up to 50% conduct credits as with most non-violent offenses. In addition, a GBI finding may qualify the offense as a strike under the Three Strikes law, exposing the defendant to increased penalties for future convictions.
EXAMPLE: A DUI with no prior convictions where no one is injured is a misdemeanor that carries up to 1 year in jail. If however it was a DUI with an accident and someone is injured in that accident (no matter if the injury is not significant) the DUI becomes a felony DUI with a maximum sentence of 3 years to be served at 50%, to wit, a person can be in jail 1 year and 6 months. If the injury is such that the victim has a broken bone or require stiches, then the maximum punishment can be 6 years (3 for DUI and 3 for GBI) that must be served at 85% of that – over 5 yeras in prison.
OTHER CASES AT THE SAME TIME
Sometimes a defendant can be multiple cases. For example, in DUI context, a defendant can be arrested for a DUI with injury and GBI and then be released on bond and committ another DUI with injury and GBI. When that happens, his or her maximum jail sentence is not doubled to 12 years (based on example above). Instead the sentence has to be consistent with PC 1170.1.
Under Penal Code section 1170.1, when a defendant is convicted of multiple felony offenses, the court imposes a “principal term” and any additional “subordinate terms.” The principal term is the longest term of imprisonment imposed for any of the offenses, including any applicable enhancements.
For each additional (subordinate) felony count, the sentence is generally calculated as one-third of the middle term of imprisonment for that offense. This is commonly referred to as the “one-third the midterm” rule.
A similar rule applies to most enhancements attached to subordinate counts. When an enhancement is imposed on a subordinate count, it is typically limited to one-third of the term that would otherwise apply to that enhancement, unless a specific statute requires a full-term consecutive enhancement. (PC 1170.1(a) sentence 3).
In short, when multiple counts or enhancements are involved, California law generally reduces the punishment for subordinate offenses and their enhancements to one-third of the middle term, while the principal count is imposed in full.
In our example above, such person with 2 pending felony DUI both with GBI the maximum sentence would be 6 for 1st DUI and 8 months for 2nd DUI and 1 year for second enhancment for a total of 7 years and 8 months.
If you are facing criminal charges in Los Angeles and need experienced representation, contact our office. As a criminal defense attorney based in Los Angeles, I can help defend you in the most serious crimes. Call (323) 464-6424 to talk to the attorney directly.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...