California Court of Appeal

Judgment sentencing defendant to a six-year term, double the three-year upper term for felony drunk driving, is reversed, and the finding that defendant's prior 1993 conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated was a serious felony and a strike for purposes of sentencing is stricken, where: 1) defendant never admitted to conduct sufficient to establish personal infliction in that 1993 manslaughter offense; 2) the trial court could not have found the offense to be a strike without resolving this factual dispute, and by doing so, the court violated federal law under Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466 and state law under People v. McGee (2006) 38 Cal.4th 682 (McGee); and 3) the evidence on the record could rationally support a jury's finding of reasonable doubt as to the requirement of personal infliction, and thus, the error was not harmless.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/05/2013
• Published 09/05/2013

Judges

• MARQUEZ

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel