People v. Koger CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2014, defendant Seth Andrew Koger1 was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In sentencing defendant, the trial court struck the punishment for a prior prison term enhancement (Pen. Code, § 667.5, former subd. (b))2 that arose out of defendant’s prior conviction for battery resulting in serious bodily injury. In 2023, after the Legislature limited the circumstances in which a prior prison term enhancement may apply, defendant filed an application for resentencing under section 1172.75 regarding the now invalid prior prison term enhancement. The trial court denied defendant’s petition after concluding that the statute does not apply when the punishment for the enhancement has been stricken by the original sentencing court.

The record on appeal includes documents in which defendant’s last name is also

spelled as “Kroger.” 2 All further statutory references are to Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in determining that section 1172.75 does not apply if the punishment for the prior prison term enhancement has been stricken. For reasons that we will explain, we conclude that defendant is entitled to have his…