People v. Superior Court (Williams) CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1999, Williams was convicted after court trial of indecent exposure with a prior conviction (§ 314, subd. (1)). The court also found true allegations that Williams had suffered five prior strike convictions (former §§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12) and had served two prior prison terms (former § 667, subd. (b)). Williams was sentenced to 25 years to life consecutive to a two-year term for the prior prison term enhancements. In 2012, Williams filed a petition for recall of sentence under section 1170.126 of the Three Strikes Reform Act. Under the Reform Act, some third strike defendants whose current offense is not a serious or violent felony “are excepted from the provision imposing an indeterminate life sentence [citation] and are instead sentenced in the same way as second strike defendants [citation]: that is, they receive a term equal to ‘twice the term otherwise provided as punishment for the current felony conviction’ [citation].” (People v. Conley (2016) 63 Cal.4th 646, 653.) In Williams’s case, the trial court denied the petition after finding that Williams posed an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety. (See § 1170.126, subd.…