People v. Sandor CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In October 2021, defendant and appellant Christopher Alexis Sandor was involved

in a physical altercation with his elderly parents. As a result of this incident, defendant

was convicted of two counts of elder abuse likely to cause great bodily injury or death

(Pen. Code,1 § 368, subd. (b)(1)) and sentenced to 14 years eight months in state prison.

In sentencing defendant, the trial court used the middle term for each offense and applied

the alternate sentencing provisions of the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subd. (b)-(i);

1170.12) as the result of a prior conviction.

On appeal, defendant argues: (1) the trial court abused its discretion by failing to

apply a presumptive low term pursuant to section 1170, subdivision (b)(6)(A), because

there was evidence that childhood trauma may have contributed to the commission of the

offenses; (2) the trial court abused its discretion by denying his Romero2 invitation to the

trial court to dismiss his prior strike offense in the interest of justice pursuant to section

1385; and (3) to the extent any claim of error has been forfeited for failure to raise the

issue at the time of sentencing, it was due to ineffective…