People v. Curtis CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

In 2022, Laron Clifford Curtis was identified by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as an inmate who was

potentially eligible for resentencing under Penal Code1 section 1172.75 because his judgment included a prior prison term enhancement (§ 667.5, subd. (b)) that had been rendered invalid by subsequent changes in law. The trial court nevertheless found Curtis ineligible for resentencing because the punishment on his enhancement had been stricken. We reverse because we conclude that section 1172.75 affords resentencing when a now-invalid prior prison term has been imposed on a defendant with the punishment stricken.

BACKGROUND

In 2016, Curtis was charged in a second amended information (information) and convicted by a jury of inflicting corporal injury on his spouse (§ 273.5) and of personally inflicting great bodily injury (§§ 12022.7, subd. (e), 1192.7, subd. (c)(8)). In addition to this substantive offense, the information also alleged that Curtis had sustained prior convictions in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Riverside, case No. INF044329, of the crimes of kidnapping (§ 207), threats (§ 422), and…