People v. Kerr CA5

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant William Joseph Kerr of first degree burglary (Pen. Code, § 459; count III), causing injury to a person with whom defendant had a dating relationship (§ 273.5, subd. (a); count IV), and battery with serious bodily injury (§ 243, subd. (d); count V) after his girlfriend reported he kicked in the door of the motel room where they were living, hitting her in the face with the door, and then held a sharp-edged object to her throat, cutting her neck. (Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.) After the trial, defendant admitted he had three prior convictions which qualified as strike offenses under sections 667, subdivisions (b)–(j), and 1170.12, subdivision (b), and as serious felony priors under section 667, subdivision (a)(1). He also admitted a prior prison term enhancement (§ 667.5, former subd. (b)). The court sentenced defendant to 25 years to life on count III based on the three strikes law, enhanced by 15 years for three 5-year prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)) and an additional year for the prior prison term. It stayed the midterm sentences imposed for counts IV and V pursuant to section 654. In this…