The People v. Ortiz CA4/1

DISCUSSION

To evaluate defendant's challenges to his 25-years-to-life sentence, we first

summarize the information in the record concerning his criminal history and personal

characteristics, plus the trial court's reasons for declining to dismiss his strike priors.

I. Background

The probation report shows that defendant pled guilty to committing seven

residential burglaries over a five-month period in 2005 when he was 20 years old; i.e., on

May 27, June 1, June 28, August 19, October 27 (two offenses), and November 2.1

Defendant told the probation officer that he committed these prior offenses by entering

the residences through a window. A police report for the May 27 burglary states that

defendant entered the residence through a patio door and ransacked and stole jewelry

from the master bedroom while the bedroom occupants were not at home, but while other

family members were asleep in other bedrooms. For the June 1 burglary, defendant

1 These residential burglaries were alleged as strike priors, except for the November 2 offense. 3 admitted that the offense was a violent felony because a person was at the residence, and

he also pled guilty to assault…