Vargas

Pursuant to a plea ágreement, defendant and appellant Juan Vargas (hereafter defendant) pled no contest to one count of assault with a firearm (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(2)), and admitted a “strike” enhancement (Pen. Code, §§ 1170.12, subd. (a), 667, subd. (d)) in return for a state prison sentence to the low term of two years, doubled to four years under the “Three Strikes” law, and the district attorney’s agreement to dismiss a second count and another enhancement. As part of the plea, defendant agreed to a so-called Cruz waiver, pursuant to which he was released from custody in return for his promise, among other things, to not commit other crimes and to return for sentencing or face a maximum term sentence which in this case would be four years, doubled to eight years under the Three Strikes law.

Defendant returned for sentencing on the date specified in his plea agreement and Cruz waiver (September 19, 2005) but the trial court continued the sentencing hearing initially to October 14, 2005, then several times more, and ultimately to January 13, 2006. In the interim, on October 6, 2005, defendant committed another crime, a residential robbery. Because of that…