People v. Lightner CA2/5

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Craig Lightner (defendant) appeals from that portion of the trial court’s ruling denying his request to dismiss a prior strike conviction under People v. Romero (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497 (Romero). According to defendant, the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to dismiss the second and more recent of his two prior strike convictions because the current felony fell outside the spirit of the “Three Strikes” law, the prior strike conviction was not based on a heinous crime, and the trial court failed to consider defendant’s cooperation with authorities as a mitigating factor in ruling on his Romero request. We hold that the trial court relied on proper grounds and acted within its discretion in denying defendant’s request to dismiss the second and more recent of his two prior strike convictions. We therefore affirm the judgment of conviction.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND1

Defendant owned Cortes Tropical Marine Warehouse in Gardena, a business that imported and exported tropical fish. Among other tropical fish, he captured in the wild and sold blue banded gobis. On July 27, 2012, defendant and the victim, Mark Rascon, boarded defendant’s boat in…