Lopez

*651 A criminal defendant should not be punished for exercising a constitutional right as declared by the United States Supreme Court. Here, the defendants exercised their declared rights by obtaining habeas corpus relief. They should not be precluded from obtaining further relief pursuant to a subsequently enacted remedial statute which addresses vindication of the same constitutional right. Were we to do so, we would elevate form over substance. (Civil Code § 3528.)

The People appeal from postjudgment orders granting probation to respondents Raul Alberto Lopez and Freddie Chacon after the trial court recalled their sentences pursuant to newly amended Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (d). In 1994, respondents were sentenced to life without possibility of parole (LWOP) plus nine years state prison for crimes they committed as juveniles. They served almost a quarter of a century in prison. The People contend that the trial court was without jurisdiction to recall the sentences after the LWOP sentences were modified to simple life sentences in 2012 pursuant to Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48 , 82, 130 S.Ct. 2011 , 176 L.Ed.2d 825 . The People seek refuge under the plain…