P.

FACTS

On December 7, 2009, police officer Kimberley Hemminger received a dispatch call to go to a restaurant because employees suspected Rivera was "possibly selling narcotics." When police arrived, they talked to Rivera and noticed he was "fidgety." His eyes "had the tremors," his pupils were "constricted," and he appeared to be "under the influence of narcotics." He had "track marks" consistent with someone who had been injecting narcotics. Rivera was arrested and in a search police found "a large amount of cash in his front left pocket." In his cell phone case, they found drug "paraphernalia" - bags containing 45 small aluminum foil "bindles" and heroin. In a plea agreement, Rivera pled guilty to possession for sale of heroin. He admitted that he possessed 14.25 grams of heroin and that he had two prior "strike" convictions for robbery in 1979 and burglary in 1991. On June 25, 2012, Rivera filed a "Romero motion" requesting the trial court to strike his prior strike convictions. The court denied the request. It considered "the factors under Romero" and ruled it was not "appropriate" to strike the prior strikes. It found that his prior convictions were "numerous" and his…