Lewis

Police officers arrested defendant David Lewis after he sold .08 grams of cocaine to an undercover police officer. A jury found Lewis guilty of selling cocaine base and possessing cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11352, subd. (a), 11350, subd. (a).) The court found true two prior serious felony convictions under California’s three strikes law. (Pen. Code, § 667, subds. (b)-(i).) The second strike finding was based on Lewis’s 1967 Louisiana conviction for attempted aggravated escape. The court sentenced Lewis to prison for 25 years to life for the cocaine sale conviction and stayed sentence on the cocaine possession offense.

Lewis appeals, challenging the court’s finding as to the second strike and raising various challenges to the imposition of the three strikes law. We conclude the court prejudicially erred in relying on inadmissible evidence to reach its finding on the second strike. Accordingly, we reverse the finding on the second strike. We affirm the judgment in all other respects.

Discussion

I. Admissibility of Evidence to Support Second Strike

The three strikes law imposes additional penalties for a current felony conviction if a prosecutor pleads and proves…