Johnson v. First District Appellate Project CA1/2

BACKGROUND

In 2019, a jury convicted Johnson of stalking in violation of a restraining order, domestic violence, and assault with a deadly weapon, after which the court sentenced Johnson to six years in prison. Respondents appealed on Johnson’s behalf and raised “numerous arguments,” including that Johnson’s stalking conviction should be vacated because it was based upon a restraining order that had been subsequently deemed “void.”3 Our colleagues in Division One concluded that Johnson’s conviction for stalking in violation of a restraining order must be modified, holding that “a person cannot be convicted of violating a court order that was unlawfully issued.”4 But rather than vacate, the Court of Appeal reduced the conviction “to a conviction of stalking in violation of Penal Code section 646.9, subdivision (a)” and remanded for resentencing, finding the stalking conviction was supported by substantial evidence but the “imposition of increased penalties under Penal Code section 646.9, subdivision (b) for stalking in violation of a restraining order amount[ed] to a sentencing error.” The court separately denied Johnson’s related petition for a writ of habeas corpus based upon a…