People v. McKenzie ( 2020 )


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  •         IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
    CALIFORNIA
    THE PEOPLE,
    Plaintiff and Respondent,
    v.
    DOUGLAS EDWARD MCKENZIE,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    S251333
    Fifth Appellate District
    F073942
    Madera County Superior Court
    MCR047554, MCR047692 and MCR047982
    February 27, 2020
    Justice Chin authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief
    Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Corrigan, Liu, Cuéllar,
    Kruger, and Groban concurred.
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    S251333
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    We granted review in this case to decide whether a
    convicted defendant who is placed on probation after imposition
    of sentence is suspended, and who does not timely appeal from
    the order granting probation, may take advantage of
    ameliorative statutory amendments that take effect during a
    later appeal from a judgment revoking probation and imposing
    sentence. The Court of Appeal answered this question in the
    affirmative and, in light of a newly effective amendment to a
    sentence enhancement statute, ordered four of defendant
    Douglas McKenzie’s sentence enhancements stricken. We
    affirm the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
    I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
    On November 4, 2014, in three separate cases, defendant
    pleaded guilty to a number of drug-related offenses and, as here
    relevant, admitted having sustained four prior felony drug-
    related convictions for purposes of sentence enhancement under
    Health and Safety Code, former section 11370.2.1 Under
    subdivision (c) of that statute, as it read at the time of
    defendant’s plea, each prior conviction rendered defendant
    subject to a consecutive three-year prison term enhancement.
    As to all three cases, the trial court suspended imposition of
    1
    All further unlabeled statutory references are to the
    Health and Safety Code.
    1
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    sentence, granted defendant five years’ probation, and ordered
    him to attend drug court.
    In March 2016, the Madera County Probation Department
    sought revocation of defendant’s probation based on alleged
    probation violations. Defendant admitted the violations and, on
    June 1, 2016, the trial court revoked probation, declined to
    reinstate it, and imposed a prison sentence that included four
    three-year prior drug conviction enhancements under former
    section 11370.2, subdivision (c).
    About two weeks later, defendant filed a notice of appeal.
    On September 13, 2017, the Court of Appeal filed an opinion
    modifying the judgment in certain respects and otherwise
    affirming.
    On October 11, 2017, the governor signed Senate Bill No.
    180 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.), which was to take effect January 1,
    2018. Under section 11370.2, as revised by that bill, defendant’s
    prior drug-related convictions no longer qualified defendant for
    sentence enhancement.
    On October 20, 2017, defendant petitioned this court for
    review based on the enactment of Senate Bill No. 180 (2017-
    2018 Reg. Sess.). On December 20, 2017, we granted review and
    remanded the case to the Court of Appeal with directions to
    vacate its decision and to reconsider the matter in light of the
    revised statute. On January 1, 2018, Senate Bill No. 180 took
    effect. On remand, the Court of Appeal held that defendant
    could take advantage of the revisions to section 11370.2 that
    rendered the statute’s sentence enhancements inapplicable to
    his prior drug-related convictions, and the court ordered those
    four enhancements stricken.
    We then granted the People’s petition for review.
    2
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    II. DISCUSSION
    We begin with In re Estrada (1965) 
    63 Cal.2d 740
    (Estrada), which first set forth the current rule regarding
    retroactive application of ameliorative statutory amendments
    and which is the foundation of the People’s argument. In that
    case, between the defendant’s escape from a drug rehabilitation
    center and his guilty plea to the crime of escape, statutory
    amendments took effect that reduced “both the term of
    imprisonment [for his crime] and the time necessary to spend in
    prison to be eligible for parole.” (Id. at p. 744.) We held that the
    ameliorative changes applied to the defendant, explaining: “The
    key date is the date of final judgment. If the amendatory statute
    lessening punishment becomes effective prior to the date the
    judgment of conviction becomes final then . . . . it, and not the
    old statute in effect when the prohibited act was committed,
    applies.” (Ibid.)
    This conclusion, we reasoned in Estrada, was warranted
    by factors indicating that, consistent with the common law rule,
    the Legislature must have intended the amendatory statute to
    apply in “all prosecutions not reduced to final judgment” at the
    time of its passage. (Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 747.) “[O]f
    paramount importance,” we explained, was the following
    consideration: “When the Legislature amends a statute so as to
    lessen the punishment[,] it has obviously expressly determined
    that its former penalty was too severe and that a lighter
    punishment is proper as punishment for the commission of the
    prohibited act. It is an inevitable inference that the Legislature
    must have intended that the new statute imposing the new
    lighter penalty now deemed to be sufficient should apply to
    every case to which it constitutionally could apply. The
    amendatory act imposing the lighter punishment can be applied
    3
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    constitutionally to acts committed before its passage provided
    the judgment convicting the defendant of the act is not final.
    This intent seems obvious, because to hold otherwise would be
    to conclude that the Legislature was motivated by a desire for
    vengeance, a conclusion not permitted in view of modern
    theories of penology. . . . [¶] . . . ‘A legislative mitigation of the
    penalty for a particular crime represents a legislative judgment
    that the lesser penalty or the different treatment is sufficient to
    meet the legitimate ends of the criminal law. Nothing is to be
    gained by imposing the more severe penalty after such a
    pronouncement; the excess in punishment can, by hypothesis,
    serve no purpose other than to satisfy a desire for vengeance.’ ”
    (Id. at pp. 744-745.)
    Estrada involved statutory amendments that “merely
    reduced . . . penal sanctions” for a given act, but we
    subsequently applied it to amendments that “entirely
    eliminated” such sanctions. (People v. Rossi (1976) 
    18 Cal.3d 295
    , 301 (Rossi).) “[T]he common law principles” underlying the
    Estrada rule, we reasoned, “apply a fortiorari when criminal
    sanctions have been completely repealed before a criminal
    conviction becomes final.” (Ibid.) As we explained, “it would be
    untenable to give defendants the benefit of a reduction in
    punishment while denying them the benefit of a complete
    remission of punishment.” (People v. Collins (1978) 
    21 Cal.3d 208
    , 213 (Collins).) Such a rule “would clearly lead to absurd
    results.” (Rossi, at p. 302, fn. 8.) It would enable a defendant to
    benefit from a statutory change if the amendment “simply . . .
    reduce[s] the maximum punishment” for a given act — even “to
    one day in jail” — but would “subject[]” a defendant “to the full
    punishment [formerly] prescribed” if the amendment instead
    “completely repeal[s] all criminal penalties for” the act. (Ibid.)
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    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    “[S]uch a reading of legislative intent belies reality.” (Ibid.)
    Thus, “ ‘when the [L]egislature repeals a criminal statute or
    otherwise removes the State’s condemnation from conduct that
    was formerly deemed criminal, this action requires the
    dismissal of a pending criminal proceeding charging such
    conduct. The rule applies to any such proceeding which, at the
    time of the supervening legislation, has not yet reached final
    disposition in the highest court authorized to review it.’ ” (Id. at
    p. 304.)
    The record here shows that when the revisions to section
    11370.2 took effect, defendant’s “ ‘criminal proceeding . . . ha[d]
    not yet reached final disposition in the highest court authorized
    to review it.’ ” (Rossi, supra, 18 Cal.3d at p. 304, quoting Bell v.
    Maryland (1964) 
    378 U.S. 226
    , 230.) On that date, “the time for
    petitioning for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme
    Court [had not] passed” (People v. Nasalga (1996) 
    12 Cal.4th 784
    , 789, fn. 5); as earlier set forth, the governor signed the bill
    containing the revisions before defendant even petitioned this
    court for review of the judgment imposing a prison sentence, and
    when the bill took effect on January 1, 2018, defendant’s appeal
    of his sentence was pending in the Court of Appeal pursuant to
    our December 2017 order granting review and remanding the
    case for reconsideration in light of the revisions. Thus, the
    prosecution had not been “reduced to final judgment at the time”
    the revisions took effect. (Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 746.)
    In asserting that defendant is nevertheless precluded from
    obtaining relief, the People argue as follows: The relevant cut-
    off point under Estrada for applying ameliorative amendments
    is the date the “judgment of conviction becomes final.” (Estrada,
    supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 744.)          Penal Code section 1237,
    subdivision (a), provides in relevant part that a defendant may
    5
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    appeal “from a final judgment of conviction” and that “an order
    granting probation . . . shall be deemed to be a final judgment
    within the meaning of this section.” Under this section, the
    People assert, the original 2014 order granting defendant
    probation was “a final judgment for purposes of filing an
    appeal,” and that judgment — which included defendant’s
    “underlying conviction” and “the admissions to prior convictions
    that qualified [him] for enhanced sentencing” — became “final
    for Estrada purposes . . . when the time to appeal from the . . .
    order passed, well before the Legislature amended the
    enhancement statute.” Defendant therefore is not entitled to
    “retroactive application” of the statutory revisions.
    The People’s arguments fail under our precedents.
    Initially, the People err by assuming that when we used the
    phrase “judgment of conviction” in Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at
    page 744, we were referring only to “underlying” convictions and
    enhancement findings, exclusive of sentence. In criminal
    actions, the terms “judgment” and “ ‘sentence’ ” are generally
    considered “synonymous” (People v. Spencer (1969) 
    71 Cal.2d 933
    , 935, fn. 1), and there is no “judgment of conviction” without
    a sentence (In re Phillips (1941) 
    17 Cal.2d 55
    , 58). Moreover, in
    Estrada, we also referred to the cut-off point for application of
    ameliorative amendments as the date when the “case[]” (id. at
    p. 746) or “prosecution[]” is “reduced to final judgment” (id. at p.
    747). And in Rossi, supra, 18 Cal.3d at page 304, we stated that
    an amendatory statute applies in “ ‘any [criminal] proceeding
    [that], at the time of the supervening legislation, has not yet
    reached final disposition in the highest court authorized to
    review it.’ ” (Italics added.) It cannot be said that this criminal
    prosecution or proceeding concluded before the ameliorative
    legislation took effect.
    6
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    This conclusion is also consistent with our recent decision
    in People v. Chavez (2018) 
    4 Cal.5th 771
     (Chavez). In that case,
    four years after successfully completing probation, the
    defendant asked the trial court to dismiss his action and
    expunge his record in furtherance of justice under Penal Code
    section 1385. (Chavez, at p. 776.) We concluded that the trial
    court could not dismiss the action under that statute because
    there was no longer an action to dismiss: the criminal action
    had ended when the defendant’s probation had expired. (Id. at
    p. 777.)
    In the course of so holding, we noted that “[u]nder well-
    established case law, a court may exercise its dismissal power
    under [Penal Code] section 1385 at any time before judgment is
    pronounced — but not after judgment is final.” (Chavez, supra,
    4 Cal.5th at p. 777.) At the same time, however, we expressly
    rejected the argument that in such cases, the “criminal action
    terminates” when “the court orders a grant of probation.” (Id.
    at p. 785.) We therefore concluded that Penal Code section
    1385’s dismissal “power may be exercised until judgment is
    pronounced or when the power to pronounce judgment runs
    out.” (Chavez, at p. 777.) As particularly relevant here, we
    explained that the “criminal action” — and thus the trial court’s
    jurisdiction to impose a final judgment — “continues into and
    throughout the period of probation” and expires only “when th[e]
    [probation] period ends.” (Id. at p. 784.) Chavez thus confirms
    that a criminal proceeding ends only once probation ends if no
    judgment has issued in the case.
    Notably, in reaching this conclusion, we also found it
    irrelevant that “under [Penal Code] section 1237, an order
    granting probation is deemed a ‘final judgment’ for the purpose
    of taking an appeal.” (Chavez, supra, 4 Cal.5th at p. 786.) Under
    7
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    our precedents, we explained, “such an order” has only “limited
    finality” and “ ‘does not have the effect of a judgment for other
    purposes.’ ” (Ibid.) Based on these precedents, we declined to
    find that, by virtue of Penal Code section 1237, an order
    granting probation is a final judgment for purposes of
    construing a trial courts’ dismissal power under Penal Code
    section 1385. (Chavez, at p. 786.)
    In this regard, Chavez is consistent with prior decisions in
    which we stated that under Penal Code section 1237, an order
    granting probation “is ‘deemed to be a final judgment’ for the
    limited purpose of taking an appeal therefrom” and “does not
    have the effect of a judgment for other purposes.” (People v.
    Superior Court (Giron) (1974) 
    11 Cal.3d 793
    , 796; see People v.
    Flores (1974) 
    12 Cal.3d 85
    , 94, fn. omitted [order granting
    probation “is not to be deemed a judgment except for purposes
    of appeal as provided in [Penal Code] section 1237”].) By
    providing that an order granting probation is “deemed to be a
    final judgment within the meaning of this section,” Penal Code
    section 1237, subdivision (a), merely “mak[es]” the order
    “appealable” and “mak[es] the scope of review the same as
    though the appeal were taken from a final judgment of
    conviction.” (In re Osslo (1958) 
    51 Cal.2d 371
    , 380, italics
    added.) This clause was added to Penal Code section 1237 in
    1951 for the “limited” purpose of “exten[ding] . . . a defendant’s
    right to appeal from a theretofore nonappealable order.” (People
    v. Robinson (1954) 
    43 Cal.2d 143
    , 145.) We long ago observed
    that the clause may “not preclude [a] court from recognizing that
    for purposes other than those of Penal Code section 1237 there
    is a substantial and . . . pertinent difference between an order
    granting probation and a final judgment as such.” (In re Osslo,
    at p. 380.) “To hold otherwise would give the 1951 amendment
    8
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    greater scope than its language would reasonably support.”
    (Robinson, at p. 145.)
    Based on the preceding analysis, we reject the People’s
    argument that, by virtue of Penal Code section 1237, because
    defendant failed to appeal from the order granting probation he
    may not benefit from ameliorative amendments that took effect
    long after the time for taking an appeal from that order lapsed.
    This reading of Estrada is consistent with the
    “consideration of paramount importance” we identified in that
    decision: the “inevitable inference” that the Legislature, having
    “determined that its former penalty was too severe,” “must have
    intended” that the ameliorative statutory change “should apply
    to every case to which it constitutionally could apply.” (Estrada,
    supra, 63 Cal.2d at pp. 744-745.) A contrary conclusion, we
    explained, would “ ‘serve no purpose other than to satisfy a
    desire for vengeance,’ ” and would have to rest on the
    impermissible view “that the Legislature was motivated by
    [such] a desire.” (Id. at p. 745.) Here, the People offer no basis
    for concluding that the revisions to section 11370.2 may not “be
    applied constitutionally” to defendant. (Estrada, at p. 745)
    Thus, applying those revisions in this case is fully consistent
    with Estrada.
    The People instead offer several policy bases for their
    view. They assert that precluding probationers like defendant
    from taking advantage of ameliorative statutory revisions that
    become effective after expiration of the time for direct appeal
    from an order granting probation would be “consistent with the
    public’s interest in finality, an interest that the Legislature
    would not intend to implicitly undercut by reducing a penalty.”
    Finality is important, the People argue, because it (1) “prevents
    9
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    criminals from escaping prosecution” due to destruction of
    evidence and loss of witnesses over the years, (2) “conserves
    public resources” by eliminating potential retrials and the need
    “to preserve evidence during the period of probation,” and (3)
    “encourage[s]” probationers “to accept responsibility” for their
    actions and to “focus on rehabilitation.” By contrast, the People
    contend, applying such revisions under these circumstances
    would produce “absurd results.”          It would “mean” that
    probationers “who do[] not initially challenge [their] underlying
    conviction” and “successfully complete[]” probation are worse off
    than probationers who violate their probation terms, have
    probation revoked, and appeal from that revocation, because
    only the latter may “benefit from a subsequent amendment to
    the pertinent statute.” It would thus “ ‘encourag[e] defendants
    to violate the terms of their probation in the hopes of extending
    the probation term to take advantage of any beneficial changes
    in the law during the probationary period.’ ” This, in turn, might
    make trial courts “reluctant to extend probation and give
    defendants additional opportunities to achieve rehabilitation.”
    We rejected similar arguments in Estrada when we
    adopted the existing rule and disapproved a previous decision
    holding that “the punishment in effect when the act was
    committed” applies notwithstanding a subsequently enacted
    ameliorative revision. (Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 742.) The
    previous decision was based in part on the view that failing to
    apply a law “with certainty as it read on the date of the offense”
    would diminish the law’s “intended deterrent effect.” (People v.
    Harmon (1960) 
    54 Cal.2d 9
    , 26.) The dissent in Estrada echoed
    this view, arguing that allowing defendants to take advantage
    of ameliorative revisions as long as direct appeal is still
    available would “substantially reduce[]” the “deterrent[]” effect
    10
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    that comes with “[t]he certainty of punishment.” (Estrada,
    supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 753 (dis. opn. of Burke, J.).) It would also,
    the Estrada dissent asserted, give “those contemplating and
    subsequently committing crime” incentive to “seek[] every
    avenue of delay through appeals and legal maneuvers of all
    kinds” in the hope that “the Legislature might in the meantime
    reduce the punishment.” (Ibid.) In other words, it would
    “encourag[e] appeals and delays not related to guilt or innocence
    but employed solely to keep open the possibility of subsequent
    windfalls” through application of “an ameliorating legislative
    act.” (Ibid.) Finally, it would create “a gross inequity” and
    “unequal treatment under the law” as to defendants who
    “plead[] guilty to an offense” and whose “conviction[s] promptly
    become[] final, thereby effectively shutting the door to [their]
    ever receiving any benefit” from the ameliorative revision.
    (Ibid.) These policy arguments did not persuade us in Estrada
    not to apply ameliorative revisions to defendants who have
    already committed criminal acts if the revisions take effect
    before their “cases” are “reduced to final judgment.” (Id., at p.
    746.) The People’s similar arguments are no more persuasive
    today, more than 50 years later, in the context of determining
    whether Estrada’s rule includes defendants who are, when
    ameliorative statutory revisions take effect, appealing from a
    judgment entered upon revocation of probation. Indeed, we find
    it highly doubtful that a probationer would, as the People
    suggest, violate probation — and face probation revocation and
    imprisonment — simply in the hope that (1) the court would
    extend probation notwithstanding the violation, and (2) the
    11
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    Legislature would enact some ameliorative statute during the
    extended probationary term. 2
    Nor are we persuaded by the People’s argument that
    probationers who do not file a timely appeal from an order
    granting probation “cannot challenge the order or the
    underlying determination of guilt through a later appeal.” The
    legal principle associated with this argument provides that
    when a court suspends imposition of sentence and grants
    probation, the defendant’s failure to appeal from the order
    granting probation generally “estops” the defendant “from
    claiming error with respect to matters occurring before that
    order,” but not as to “proceedings in connection with the
    revocation of probation and sentencing.” (People v. Gonzales
    (1968) 
    68 Cal.2d 467
    , 470, italics added.) In other words, it
    “merely forecloses action based on errors committed at the trial.”
    (People v. Wilkins (1959) 
    169 Cal.App.2d 27
    , 34.) Here,
    defendant does not claim that an “error[]” occurred “at the trial”
    (ibid.) “before” the court ordered probation (Gonzales, at p. 470).
    Instead, he raises an issue relating to the subsequent
    “revocation of probation and sentencing” (ibid.), based on an
    event — the amendment of section 11370.2 — that occurred long
    after the court ordered probation and the time for direct appeal
    lapsed. Thus, defendant could not have raised this issue during
    a direct appeal from the probation order.          Under these
    2
    We also note that as a factual matter, applying the
    Estrada rule in this case does not implicate the People’s
    concerns about the costs and difficulties associated with retrials.
    Allowing defendant to take advantage of the revision to section
    11370.2 will not result in a new trial. The trial court may simply
    strike the affected enhancements and modify defendant’s
    sentence accordingly.
    12
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    circumstances, defendant’s failure to file such a direct appeal
    does not preclude him from taking advantage of ameliorative
    amendments that took effect while he was appealing from the
    subsequent revocation of his probation and imposition of
    sentence. (Cf. In re Black (1967) 
    66 Cal.2d 881
    , 887 [“It has been
    said that the ‘requirement of exhaustion of the appellate or other
    remedy . . . is merely a discretionary policy governing the
    exercise of the reviewing court’s jurisdiction to issue the writ’ ”].)
    The People’s contrary view rests on an asserted
    distinction — between amendments that merely reduce
    punishment and those that entirely eliminate punishment —
    that, as already explained, we long ago rejected for purposes of
    applying the Estrada rule. The People argue that “because” the
    statutory amendment here “did not [merely] change the
    sentence or the superior court’s sentencing discretion as to the
    former enhancements, it did away with them altogether,” this
    case necessarily involves a prohibited “challenge to the [now
    final] adjudication of defendant’s guilt — specifically, the
    adjudication of the allegations of prior narcotics-related
    convictions” — rather than a question of “sentencing discretion.”
    In other words, in the People’s view, although defendant could
    have benefitted from the amendment had it merely reduced the
    punishment for the enhancement — even to a single day in
    jail — because the amendment completely eliminated the
    punishment, he cannot. As we explained over 40 years ago, as
    a basis for determining the Estrada rule’s applicability, the
    distinction the People put forth is “untenable” (Collins, supra,
    21 Cal.3d at p. 213) and “would clearly lead to absurd results”
    (Rossi, supra, 18 Cal.3d at p. 302, fn. 8). Therefore, we again
    decline to adopt it.
    13
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    Finally, rejection of the People’s argument is consistent
    with our discussion in Estrada and subsequent decisions of
    “legislative intent,” i.e., whether “the Legislature intend[ed] the
    old or new statute to apply.” (Estrada, supra, 62 Cal.2d at p.
    744.) We find no basis to conclude that the Legislature intended
    the old statute imposing punishment to apply to those on
    probation simply because they may no longer appeal from orders
    granting probation as to which there was no ground for appeal.
    On the other hand, as we have explained, “an amendment
    eliminating criminal sanctions is [itself] a sufficient declaration
    of the Legislature’s intent to bar all punishment for the conduct
    so decriminalized.” (Collins, supra, 21 Cal.3d at p. 213.)
    In addition to these generally applicable statements
    regarding legislative intent, the legislative history of section
    11370.2’s recent revision reveals additional “factors that
    indicate the Legislature must have intended that the
    amendatory statute should operate in” cases like this one.
    (Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 746.) According to that
    legislative history, the “sentence enhancement for prior drug
    convictions” was an “extreme punishment” that had “failed to”
    achieve its goals — “protect[ing] communities [and] reduc[ing]
    the availability of drugs” — while having the following negative
    effects: (1) producing “overcrowded jails and prisons”; (2)
    “ ‘funneling money away from community-based programs and
    services” ’ in order to “ ‘build[] new jails to imprison more people
    with long sentences,’ ” thus “crippl[ing] state and local budgets”;
    and (3) “ ‘devastat[ing] low-income communities of color’ ” and
    “ ‘target[ing] the poorest and most marginalized people in our
    communities.’ ” (Assem. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Sen.
    Bill No. 180 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) June 27, 2017, p. 4.) Repeal
    of the enhancement was therefore “ ‘urgently needed’ ” in order
    14
    PEOPLE v. MCKENZIE
    Opinion of the Court by Chin, J.
    “ ‘to undo the damage’ ” the enhancement had caused, to “free[]”
    up funds for “reinvest[ment] in community programs that
    actually improve the quality of life and reduce crime,” and to
    “ ‘reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system.’ ”
    (Ibid.) In view of these stated concerns and goals, we see no
    basis to conclude the Legislature intended to exclude those on
    probation simply because they can no longer appeal from the
    original order granting probation. The legislative history
    reinforces the conclusion that the Legislature “must have
    intended” section 11370.2’s ameliorative changes to “operate in”
    cases like this one. (Estrada, supra, 63 Cal.2d at p. 746.)
    III. DISPOSITION
    For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the judgment of
    the Court of Appeal.
    CHIN, J.
    We Concur:
    CANTIL-SAKAUYE, C. J.
    CORRIGAN, J.
    LIU, J.
    CUÉLLAR, J.
    KRUGER, J.
    GROBAN, J.
    15
    See next page for addresses and telephone numbers for counsel who argued in Supreme Court.
    Name of Opinion People v. McKenzie
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Unpublished Opinion
    Original Appeal
    Original Proceeding
    Review Granted XXX 
    25 Cal.App.5th 1207
    Rehearing Granted
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Opinion No. S251333
    Date Filed: February 27, 2020
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Court: Superior
    County: Madera
    Judge: Ernest J. LiCalsi
    __________________________________________________________________________________
    Counsel:
    Elizabeth Campbell, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Alex Green, under appointment by the
    the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
    Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Kathleen A. Kenealy, Acting Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief
    Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, R. Todd Marshall, Raymond L.
    Brosterhous II, Eric L. Christoffersen, Janet Neeley, Rachelle A. Newcomb and Catherine Chatman,
    Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    Counsel who argued in Supreme Court (not intended for publication with opinion):
    Catherine Chatman
    Deputy Attorney General
    1300 I Street, Suite 125
    Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
    (916) 210-7699
    Elizabeth Campbell
    Attorney at Law
    3104 O Street
    Sacramento, CA 95816
    (530) 786-4108
    

Document Info

Docket Number: S251333

Filed Date: 2/27/2020

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 2/27/2020