People v. Sanchez CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2024, defendant Ray Anthony Sanchez was convicted by jury of one count of making criminal threats against his former girlfriend. (Pen. Code, § 422, subd. (a).)1 In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found that defendant had prior convictions from 2006 for attempted murder (§§ 664/187, subd. (a)), and from 2016 for active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a)), for purposes of Three Strikes law sentencing (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)–(d)), and prior serious felony conviction enhancements (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)). The trial court also found true allegations that “defendant’s prior convictions as an adult or sustained petitions in juvenile delinquency proceedings are numerous or of increasing seriousness,” and “defendant has served a prior term in prison or county jail under section 1170[, subdivision ](h),” but found not true the allegation that “The crime involved great violence, great bodily harm, threat of great bodily harm, or other acts disclosing a high degree of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(b)(2)–(3), (a)(1).) At the sentencing hearing, the trial court denied defendant’s…