People v. Williams CA4/2

I.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Billy Williams, Jr., contends the trial court erroneously 1 denied his Romero motion to dismiss a prior “strike” offense. We disagree and affirm.

II.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

3 Defendant was charged with two counts of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a).

He pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter for one count and a jury found him guilty of the

other count. In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found that defendant had suffered

a strike offense for a felony conviction for first degree robbery (§§ 211, 667, subds. (b)-

(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)).

Before sentencing, defendant filed a Romero motion to strike his prior strike

conviction. Defendant argued the court should strike his prior strike conviction because

he committed the offense about 26 years prior when he was 18 years old. The trial court

denied the motion and sentenced defendant to a 11 years for the voluntary manslaughter

conviction and a consecutive term of 15 years to life, doubled to 30 years to life because

of his prior strike offense.

1 People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497. 2 Given the limited scope of defendant’s appeal and…