Meeks

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

A jury convicted defendant Delbert Meeks of willfully failing, between January 1 and May 15, 2000, to register within five days after changing his address (Pen.Code, § 290, subd. (a)(1)(A); unspecified section references that follow are to the Penal Code) and willfully failing, between December 1, 1999, and May 15, 2000, to register within five days of his birthday (§ 290, subd. (a)(1)(D)). After a bench trial, the court found that defendant had been convicted on four previous occasions of offenses that constituted strikes within the meaning of section 667, subds. (b)-(i), and section 1170.12. Defendant was sentenced to state prison for 25 years to life for failure to register after changing his address. For purposes of sentencing, the court struck the prior convictions as they related to his failure to register within five days of his birthday and imposed a consecutive term of two years.

On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the court erred in instructing the jury on the element of "willfulness," (2) the court erred in denying his challenges to multiple counts for the single continuing offense of failure to register, (3) the…

A jury convicted defendant Delbert Meeks of willfully failing, between January 1 and May 15, 2000, to register within five days after changing his address (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (a)(1)(A); unspecified section references that follow are to the Penal Code) and willfully failing, between *700 December 1, 1999, and May 15, 2000, to register within five days of his birthday (§ 290, subd. (a)(1)(D)). After a bench trial, the court found that defendant had been convicted on four previous occasions of offenses that constituted strikes within the meaning of section 667, subds. (b)-(i), and section 1170.12. Defendant was sentenced to state prison for 25 years to life for failure to register after changing his address. For purposes of sentencing, the court struck the prior convictions as they related to his failure to register within five days of his birthday and imposed a consecutive term of two years.

On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the court erred in instructing the jury on the element of “willfulness,” (2) the court erred in denying his challenges to multiple counts for the single continuing offense of failure to register, (3) the court violated section 654 when it did…

I concur in parts I, II, and III of the majority opinion.

I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion, in part IV, that the sentence in this case does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment. In my view, defendant’s sentence of 25 years to life on count 2, plus a two-year consecutive sentence on count 3, constitutes cruel or unusual punishment under the California Constitution.

Article 1, section 17 of the California Constitution provides in pertinent part, “Cruel or unusual punishment may not be inflicted . . . .”

Construing this provision, the California Supreme Court in In re Lynch (1972) 8 Cal.3d 410 [ 105 Cal.Rptr. 217 , 503 P.2d 921 ], said, “the power to prescribe penalties [must] “be exercised within the limits of civilized standards.” ’ [Citations.] ‘The State, even as it punishes, must treat its members with respect for their intrinsic worth as human beings.’ [Citations.] Punishment which is so excessive as to transgress those limits and deny that worth cannot be tolerated, [f] We conclude that in California a punishment may violate article 1, section 6 [now section 17] of the Constitution if, although not cruel or unusual in its method, it is so…