People v. Johnson

Walter B. Johnson (appellant) was charged with first degree residential burglary committed on November 28, 1987, in violation of Penal Code section 459. The information also alleged that appellant had suffered eight prior separate prison terms (§§ 667.5, subd. (b)) and eight prior serious felony convictions (§§ 667 and 1192.7, subd. (c)(18)). Appellant pled not guilty and denied the prior conviction enhancement allegations.

The trial was bifurcated, and the jury found appellant guilty of first degree burglary as charged. On appellant’s waiver of further jury trial, the truth of the alleged priors was tried to the court. The court found seven of the alleged eight prior separate prison term convictions to be true; it also found that a May 27, 1983, first degree burglary was true and was a “serious felony”; at a subsequent hearing the court found each of the seven other prior convictions to be a “serious felony.”

Appellant was sentenced to state prison for thirty-nine years as follows: four years for the first degree burglary plus seven consecutive five-year enhancements for each of the seven prior serious felony convictions which were separately charged.

With the…