In re Sims CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2017, petitioner Damion Paul Sims pled guilty to one count of first degree

burglary. (Pen. Code, § 459.)1 At the time of entering his plea, petitioner also admitted

the truth of a special allegation that there was a person other than an accomplice in the

residence at the time of the burglary. (§ 667.5, subd. (c)(21)). However, when

pronouncing judgment, the trial court did not reference this admission and imposed a

sentence as if petitioner’s offense constituted a nonviolent felony. Consistent with the

trial court’s oral pronouncement of judgment, the abstract of judgment did not check the

box indicating defendant’s conviction was for a violent felony.

In 2023, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) sent

correspondence to the trial court requesting a review of the file “to determine if a

correction is required.” Specifically, CDCR believed the abstract of judgment was

ambiguous because the felony complaint had specifically alleged defendant’s offense was

committed under circumstances that would have rendered it a violent felony pursuant to

section 667.5, subdivision (c)(21), but “[i]t is not clear from the Minute Order…