People v. Superior Court (Duran)

Real party in interest, Sherwin Lee Duran, having been convicted of attempted robbery (Pen. Code, §§ 211, 664), was sentenced by the trial court to a term of 18 months, that period being one-half of the middle term for robbery (24 months, 36 months or 48 months) (Pen. Code, § 213). The sentence was imposed pursuant to Penal Code section 664 which provides generally that “where no other provision is made by law for the punishment of . . . attempts” the punishment is “one-half the term of imprisonment prescribed upon a conviction of the offense so attempted; . . .” In doing so, however, the court did not give effect to the last sentence of Penal Code section 213 providing that, “Notwithstanding section 664, attempted robbery is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.”

The People argued in the trial court and urge here that the Legislature must have intended to give some meaning to the last sentence in section 213, otherwise it would not have put the quoted language in the statute, and that the only meaning that can be given to those words is that the Legislature intended that the proper punishment for attempted robbery is as prescribed in Penal Code section 18 (16…