Allison

In this case, we must decide whether Penal Code section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i), the legislative version of the “Three Strikes Law,” requires that a defendant’s prior serious or violent felonies have been “brought and tried separately” in order to qualify as multiple “strikes.” We conclude that the Three Strikes Law contains no such requirement.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Pursuant to a negotiated disposition, defendant Mark Wayne Allison pled guilty to one count of cultivation of marijuana. Defendant also admitted that he had previously been convicted of four serious or violent felonies within the meaning of section 667, subdivisions (d) and (e), consisting of three counts of assault with a firearm and one count of kidnapping. All four priors were charged in a single information and were disposed of in a single proceeding on February 11, 1986.

At sentencing, defendant argued that the four prior felonies should be counted as only a single “strike” because they were not “brought and tried separately." The trial court rejected this argument, sentencing defendant to an indeterminate term of 25 years to life in state prison. (See § 667, subd.…