People v. Merrigan CA3

facts of the current crime involved great violence and a vulnerable victim. The prosecution acknowledged that in the last decade defendant’s rule violations in prison consisted of urine tests positive for drugs. Defense counsel agreed with the prosecution that defendant fell within the spirit of the three strikes law in 1994 but said “a lot has changed since then.” Defendant’s many theft-related offenses were due to the heroin addiction defendant developed after he was discharged from the army in 1972. He lived with addiction until 2015 when he was incarcerated and “things took a turn for the better.” Since 2015, he had been sober for 10 years and had not had any rule violations. Defendant had participated in 150 hours of Narcotics Anonymous courses provided by a veterans group. Defendant had also participated in an anger management class through the veterans’ group and completed a

2 The minute order and abstract of judgment from the original sentence show a two-year term for the elderly victim enhancement. At the resentencing hearing, counsel for the parties agreed that the section 667.9 enhancement should have been one year and the trial court deferred. Section 667.9,…