California v. Tennard

by
A jury convicted defendant-appellant, Thomas Tennard, Jr., of a nonstrike felony: inflicting corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon his cohabitant girlfriend, M.L. The court found defendant had four prison priors and two prior strikes, including a 1991 conviction for forcible rape, a “super strike.” Pursuant to the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 ("Prop. 36," (Nov. 6, 2012)), defendant was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for his domestic violence conviction, even though it was neither a serious nor a violent felony. Because his prior forcible rape conviction was a “super strike,” defendant was disqualified from being sentenced to a lesser term of “twice the term otherwise provided” for a domestic violence conviction. Defendant was sentenced to a consecutive one-year term for one of his four prison priors. In this appeal, defendant claimed the court had no authority to impose the 25-year-to-life term, arguing the prosecution erroneously failed to specifically “plead and prove” that his prior forcible rape conviction was a super strike which disqualified him or rendered him ineligible to be sentenced as a second strike offender to twice the term otherwise provided for his current felony conviction pursuant to Penal Code section 667(e)(1). Defendant argued the court was only authorized to sentence him to a maximum of eight years on his current conviction. In addition to his statutory claim, defendant claimed he was deprived of his due process right to notice that the prosecution would seek an indeterminate term on his current conviction. After review, the Court of Appeal remanded this matter with directions to correct the abstract of judgment to reflect that defendant’s presentence custody credits were awarded pursuant to section 4019, not section 2933.1. In all other respects, the Court affirmed the sentence. View "California v. Tennard" on Justia Law