People v. Hall CA2/4

DISCUSSION

Effective January 1, 2022, Senate Bill No. 81 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) (SB 81) amended section 1385 “to specify mitigating circumstances that the trial court should consider when deciding whether to strike enhancements from a defendant’s sentence in the interest of justice. (Stats. 2021, ch. 721, § 1.)” (People v. Lipscomb (2022) 87 Cal.App.5th 9, 16.) Section 1385, subdivision (c) now provides: “(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the court shall dismiss an enhancement if it is in the furtherance of justice to do so, except if dismissal of that enhancement is prohibited by any initiative statute. [¶] (2) In exercising its discretion under this subdivision, the court shall consider and afford great weight to evidence offered by the defendant to prove that any of the [enumerated] mitigating circumstances . . . are present.” Hall argues remand for a new sentencing hearing is required to allow the court to exercise its discretion to dismiss the deadly weapon enhancement under section 1385, subdivision (c). We disagree. At the time the trial court resentenced Hall, SB 81 had been in effect for over a year. Nothing in the record affirmatively demonstrates the court was unaware…