People v. McDonald CA3

DISCUSSION

The substantive facts underlying defendant’s conviction are not relevant to the issues raised on appeal and are not recounted here. I The Narcotics Offender Registration Requirement Must Be Stricken Defendant and the People agree defendant’s narcotics offender registration requirement should be stricken because the Legislature repealed Health and Safety Code section 11590, which required persons convicted of certain offenses involving controlled

2 substances to register as narcotics offenders with the local law enforcement agency. (Stats. 2019, ch. 580, § 2.) The repeal became effective on January 1, 2020, while defendant’s case was still pending and not yet final. The parties are correct. In Estrada, our Supreme Court addressed the retroactive application of a criminal statute amended to mitigate the punishment for a proscribed act prior to final judgment in a defendant’s case. (In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740, 742.) “When the Legislature amends a statute so as to lessen the punishment it has obviously expressly determined that its former penalty was too severe and that a lighter punishment is proper as punishment for the commission of the prohibited act. It is an…