People v. Torres CA2/1

DISCUSSION

“Whether a punishment is cruel or unusual is a question of law for the appellate court, but the underlying disputed facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment. [Citations.]” (People v. Martinez (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 489, 496.) “Fixing the penalty for crimes is the province of the Legislature, which is in the best position to evaluate the gravity of different crimes and to make judgments among different penological approaches. [Citations.] Only in the rarest of cases could a court declare that the length of a sentence mandated by the Legislature is unconstitutionally excessive. [Citations.]” (Id. at p. 494.) Against this backdrop, under the California Constitution, a sentence may violate the prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment only if it is so disproportionate to the crime for which it was imposed that it “shocks the conscience and offends fundamental

1 Statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 notions of human dignity.” (In re Lynch (1972) 8 Cal.3d 410, 424.) The appellate court considers (1) the nature of the offense and the offender, “with particular regard to the degree of danger both present to society”; (2) how the…