People v. Hale CA2/4

DISCUSSION

An inmate is eligible for resentencing under the Three Strikes Reform Act if “[t]he inmate is serving an indeterminate term of life imprisonment imposed pursuant to [the Three Strikes law] for a conviction of a felony or felonies that are not defined as serious and/or violent . . . .” (§ 1170.126, subd. (e)(1).) During the pendency of this appeal, the California Supreme Court resolved a split of authority on the issue of the eligibility for resentencing of an inmate serving an indeterminate life sentence for several offenses, only some of which are neither serious nor violent felonies. (People v. Johnson, supra, 61 Cal.4th 674.) The court rejected the argument that “resentencing is allowed only if all of a prisoner’s current offenses are neither serious nor violent . . . .” (Id. at p. 688.) It held that an inmate’s eligibility for resentencing must be evaluated on a count-by-count basis (ibid.), and the inmate may be eligible for resentencing “with respect to a current offense that is neither serious nor violent despite the presence of another current offense that is serious or violent.” (Id. at p. 695.) The court noted that the same approach applies to the list of…