People v. Le CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Huy Hoang Le pleaded guilty to murder and admitted that he personally used a handgun. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 12022.5, subd. (a).)1 The trial court sentenced him to 18 years to life in prison. On appeal, defendant contends that the clerk’s minutes of the sentencing hearing and the abstract of judgment erroneously reflect that the trial court imposed a restitution fine and a parole revocation restitution fine of $3,600 each. According to defendant, the court “deferred” imposition of the restitution fines at the sentencing hearing and, because no such fines were ultimately ordered by the court at a subsequently-held hearing, the matter must be remanded for the trial court to exercise its discretion as to the amount of the restitution fines or, alternatively, this court should impose the statutory minimum amounts. Defendant also contends that, to the extent the trial court imposed such

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. restitution fines, his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to argue for lesser amounts. For reasons that we will explain, we will reverse the judgment and remand the matter…