People v. Martinez CA2/8

BACKGROUND

In 2013, Martinez pleaded no contest to kidnapping and admitted an enhancement that she personally used a firearm. (§§ 207, subd. (a) & 12022.53, subd. (b).) The trial court sentenced her to 18 years in prison. On the same day, in a separate criminal case, appellant was sentenced to two years eight months for kidnapping and robbery to run concurrent with the 18-year sentence. On March 3, 2021, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) contacted the court and recommended that Martinez’s sentence be recalled and she be resentenced pursuant to former section 1170, subdivision (d). CDCR noted that after Martinez was sentenced, the Legislature amended the firearm enhancement statute so that the court could, in its discretion, strike or dismiss the enhancement in the interest of justice. CDCR also advised the court of Martinez’s considerable efforts at rehabilitation. On April 21, 2021, the trial court summarily denied the request to recall the sentence, finding it would not be in the interest of justice to resentence Martinez. The court commented on the violent nature of the crimes and the extreme danger in which Martinez had placed…