Alvarez

In this appeal, we are faced with a silent record with respect to whether the trial court would have exercised its discretion recognized in People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 [53 Cal.Rptr.2d 789, 917 P.2d 628 ] to strike priors alleged pursuant to the “Three Strikes” law. Although many Three Strikes issues were raised in the trial court, the discretionary power to strike priors pursuant to Penal Code section 1385 was neither expressly nor impliedly among them. Accordingly, we find Jose Joel Alvarez (defendant) is not entitled to any relief on this appeal because the appellate record fails to disclose whether the trial court may have misunderstood its Penal Code section 1385 discretionary power to strike a prior conviction alleged pursuant to the Three Strikes law.

We also conclude the trial court correctly refused to allow defendant to explicitly refer to the fact he faced a 25-year-to-life sentence under the Three Strikes law as a reason why he confessed at the time of his arrest, and then later recanted.

Procedural History

By information, defendant was charged with felonious possession of cocaine base (count 1; Health & Saf. Code, § 11350, subd.…