People v. Morales CA4/1

BACKGROUND

While Morales was serving a prison sentence for murder, he and another prisoner weaved quickly through a group of prisoners who were returning from the dining hall to their housing unit. When Morales and the other prisoner reached a third prisoner, Moises Anthony Salais, they repeatedly stabbed him with sharp metal objects until prison guards arrived and stopped the attack. Salais sustained puncture wounds to his head, right shoulder, chest, and back. The People charged Morales with assault with a deadly weapon while confined in prison (Pen. Code, § 4501, subd. (a); subsequent section references are to this code) and possession of a weapon while confined in prison (§ 4502, subd. (a)). They alleged Morales’s prior murder conviction constituted a strike for purposes of the “Three Strikes” law. (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12.) A jury found Morales guilty of both charges. After the jury returned its verdicts, the court held a trial on the prior conviction allegation and found it true. At the sentencing hearing, the court imposed an aggregate prison term of eight years to be served consecutively to the term Morales was already serving for murder. The court imposed the…