Athar

A jury found defendant Syed Abeida Athar guilty of conspiracy to engage in money laundering in violation of the general conspiracy statute, Penal Code section 182, subdivision (a)(1). 1 Defendant was not charged with (or convicted of) money laundering itself under section 186.10, subdivision (a). The trial court sentenced him to a two-year term for the base crime of conspiracy, and imposed a four-year enhancement under section 186.10, subdivision (c)(1)(D).

We granted review to decide whether the trial court may impose an enhancement under section 186.10, subdivision (c), for money laundering when the defendant is not convicted of money laundering under section 186.10, subdivision (a), but is convicted of conspiracy to commit that offense under section 182. Under section 182, subdivision (a), a conspirator is to receive punishment “in the same manner and to the same extent as is provided for the punishment of’ the target felony. Applying this provision, we conclude that the enhancement provisions of section 186.10, subdivision (c), do apply when the defendant has been convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering but not of money laundering itself.

FACTS AND…

Penal Code section 186.10, subdivision (c)(1)(D), requires that in sentencing a defendant convicted of money laundering, a trial court must impose an additional four-year prison term if the value of the unlawful transactions exceeded $2.5 million. Although defendant here was not convicted of money laundering, the majority concludes that the trial court properly imposed an additional four-year term to be served consecutive to defendant’s two-year prison sentence for the crime of conspiracy. I disagree. Analysis of the wording of the statutory provisions at issue, comparison of that wording with analogous sentencing laws, and review of the legislative history of the money laundering statute leave me *407 highly doubtful that the Legislature intended for the additional prison term for high-value money laundering transactions to attach to a sentence for the crime of conspiracy. Under the mle of lenity, doubts of this magnitude and nature must be resolved in defendant’s favor.

Subdivision (a) of Penal Code section 186.10 defines the crime of money laundering and states that it “shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison . . .…

A jury found defendant Syed Abeida Athar guilty of conspiracy to engage in money laundering in violation of the general conspiracy statute, Penal Code section 182, subdivision (a)(1). [1] Defendant was not charged with (or convicted of) money laundering itself under section 186.10, subdivision (a). The trial court sentenced him to a two-year term for the base crime of conspiracy, and imposed a four-year enhancement under section 186.10, subdivision (c)(1)(D).

We granted review to decide whether the trial court may impose an enhancement under section 186.10, subdivision (c), for money laundering when the defendant is not convicted of money laundering under section 186.10, subdivision (a), but is convicted of conspiracy to commit that offense under section 182. Under section 182, subdivision (a), a conspirator is to receive punishment "in the same manner and to the same extent as is provided for the punishment of" the target felony. Applying this provision, we conclude that the enhancement provisions of section 186.10, subdivision (c), do apply when the defendant has been convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering but not of money laundering itself.

We summarize…