People v. Mora CA2/5

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In two separate incidents in July 2017, Ruben Edward Mora robbed banks by convincing tellers that he was armed. Mora did not harm anyone in the commission of the offenses. In 2018, the jury found Mora guilty of two counts of second degree robbery. (Pen. Code,1 § 211.) Judge Camacho, who presided at trial, found true the allegations that, as to both counts, Mora had been convicted of two prior burglaries (§ 459), which were serious and/or violent felonies within the meaning of section 667, subdivision (a)(1), and within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (§§ 667 (b)-(j) & 1170.12). Mora moved, pursuant to People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497, to strike the two prior burglary convictions for purposes of the Three Strikes law. Judge Camacho considered the remoteness and the nature of the burglaries—in which no one was harmed and all property was recovered— against Mora’s ongoing criminal history. The judge denied Mora’s Romero motion, but ran the two 25 years to life strike sentences concurrently and exercised his discretion to strike the two prior convictions for purposes of the five-year enhancements alleged pursuant to section…