People v. Thomas CA2/1

BACKGROUND

In 1997, a jury found Thomas guilty of one count of possession of a firearm by a felon (former § 12021, subd. (a)(1)); and the court found he had three prior strike convictions under the “Three Strikes” law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i) & 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)) and five prior prison terms within the meaning of section 667.5, subdivision (b). After denying Thomas’s motion to dismiss prior strike convictions, the court sentenced him to 25 years to

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 life in state prison, and imposed and stayed the section 667.5, subdivision (b) prior prison term enhancements. At the time Thomas was sentenced, section 667.5, subdivision (b), required a trial court, when sentencing a defendant to prison for a felony, to impose a one-year term for each prior prison term the defendant had served, unless the defendant had remained free of custody for at least five years. Effective January 1, 2020, Senate Bill No. 136 amended section 667.5, subdivision (b), to limit the enhancement to prior prison terms served for sexually violent offenses. (Sen. Bill No. 136 (2019-2020 Reg. Sess.); Stats. 2019, ch. 590, § 1.) In 2021, the Legislature…