People v. Salazar CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

In 2011, Richard Angel Salazar (Salazar) pled guilty to corporal injury to spouse

(Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a))1 and attempting to dissuade a witness from reporting a

crime (§ 136.1, subd. (b)(1)). He admitted one serious felony prior conviction (§ 667,

subd. (a)(1)) and one strike prior (§§ 667, subd. (b)-(i), 668, 1170.12) arising from a 2008

conviction in which he pled guilty to dissuading a witness from giving testimony

(§ 136.1, subd. (a)), but he reserved the right to appeal the validity of this prior. The

court sentenced Salazar to a total term of 14 years four months, which included a five-

year enhancement for the 2008 serious felony prior conviction.

Salazar contends on appeal the trial court erred in declining to declare the 2008

serious felony prior conviction invalid for purposes of sentence enhancement. He argues

the preliminary hearing transcript, to which he stipulated as providing a factual basis for

the 2008 plea, does not actually contain a sufficient factual basis as required by section

1192.5. Therefore, he argues, the court's acceptance of his 2008 plea was constitutionally

defective. The People contend the court did not err…