Cordova

Defendant Johnny Melendez Cordova is serving a sentence of 25 years to life under the “Three Strikes” law. He petitioned the trial court for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.126 (section 1170.126), which is part of the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012, also known as Proposition 36 (Reform Act). That act entitled him to a reduction in his sentence unless such a reduction would “pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.” (§ 1170.126, subd. (1) (section 1170.126(1)).) The trial court found this condition to be present and denied his petition on that ground. While this appeal from that ruling was pending, voters adopted the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, also known as Proposition 47 (Safe Neighborhoods Act), which substantially narrowed the definition of “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” as that phrase was “used throughout this Code.” (Pen. Code, § 1170.18, subd. (c) (section 1170.18(c)).) We conclude that the new definition applies, in accordance with its plain terms, to determinations of dangerousness under the Reform Act, and that notwithstanding the presumption against statutory retroactivity, it applies to petitions that had…

Dissenting.—I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion’s holding that Proposition 47’s definition of “an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” applies to petitions for resentencing under Proposition 36. “[I] recognize the basic principle of statutory and constitutional construction which mandates that courts, in construing a measure, not undertake to rewrite *593 its unambiguous language. [Citation.] That rule is not applied, however, when it appears clear that a word has been erroneously used, and a judicial correction will best carry out the intent of the adopting body.” (People v. Skinner (1985) 39 Cal.3d 765, 775 [ 217 Cal.Rptr. 685 , 704 P.2d 752 ].) None of the ballot materials accompanying Proposition 47 mentioned Proposition 36, and there is no indication that the electorate intended to modify Proposition 36’s definition of an “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.” I would hold that Proposition 47’s definition of “an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” is inapplicable to Proposition 36, and Proposition 47 contains a drafting error that must be judicially corrected.

Additionally, the majority concludes that defendant’s argument that the…

BACKGROUND

A. Defendant’s Strikes.

In May 1973, at the age of 19, defendant was charged with a number of felonies arising from two incidents on successive days. One incident involved a home invasion robbery in which, according to the police report, defendant held a woman and her children at gunpoint while threatening violence against them. According to a later decision by this court, defendant eventually accumulated four convictions for serious or violent felonies—commonly known as strikes—for purposes of the Three Strikes law, Penal Code sections 667 and 1192.7. (People v. Cordova (Nov. 25, 1998, H015896) [nonpub. opn.] [at pp. 16-17].)

1 We have granted respondent’s request for judicial notice of the cited opinion as well as an earlier opinion concerning one of the 1973 offenses and a 1982 offense for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. (People v. Cordova (Dec. 27, 1985, A028169) [nonpub. opn.].) According to the District’s Attorneys opposition memorandum below, the latter charge arose when a plainclothes officer saw defendant 2 B. Three Strikes Law.

Two decades after defendant sustained the foregoing convictions, voters and the Legislature, respectively, adopted…