Wood

This case presents the question of whether a conviction for violation of the “hit and run” statute (Veh. Code, § 20001), during which the victim is seriously injured, automatically qualifies as a serious felony. We follow the principle that the gravamen of the offense of hit and run is the flight of the defendant from the scene of the accident, Thus we determine that such conviction can only be a serious felony where the defendant’s flight is the cause of the serious injury. Such was not the case in the prior conviction before us.

Lawrence Wayne Wood entered a guilty plea to corporal injury upon a spouse (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)). He also admitted a prior conviction for violation of Vehicle Code section 20001, which had been alleged as a serious/violent felony within the meaning of section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i). Wood reserved the right at sentencing to argue the prior conviction did not qualify as a “strike.”

The trial court denied Wood’s motion to strike the serious/violent felony prior and sentenced Wood to a determinate term of six years, consisting of the middle term of three years for infliction of corporal injury on a spouse, doubled pursuant to…