People v. Mixon CA1/4

BACKGROUND

In 1987, following a jury trial, Mixon was found guilty of one count of murder and multiple counts of robbery, attempted robbery, assault, and firearms violations.2 The trial court imposed an aggravated term on count 11, one of the robbery counts, because “the crime involved a high degree of cruelty, viciousness, and callousness,” and a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder count. The court imposed two one-year sentencing enhancements pursuant to section 667.5, subdivision (b), for Mixon’s two prior felony convictions. Mixon later sought resentencing pursuant to section 1172.75 (then- recently renumbered from section 1171.1), asking the trial court to strike the prison prior enhancements and to engage in a full resentencing in light of Mixon’s age, the length of his incarceration, his health problems, his rehabilitation, his low risk of recidivism, and the support of his family. Mixon asked the trial court to reduce the remainder of his sentence, in relevant respect, by changing the murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense. He also asked the court to reduce the sentence for count 11 from the upper five-year term to a term of one…