People v. McCowan CA1/4

BACKGROUND

A jury convicted McCowan in October 2012 of willful infliction of injury on his spouse (§ 273.5, subd. (a); count 1) and assault with a deadly weapon, a hammer (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); count 2) and found true an allegation that he personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a hammer, in the commission of count 1 (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). The court found that counts 1 and 2 were serious felonies within the meaning of section 1192.7, subdivision (c)(23), and found true allegations that McCowan had suffered prior strike (§ 1170.12, subd. (c)(2)) and serious felony (§ 67, subd. (a)) convictions between 1982 and 1989. On May 9, 2013, the trial court sentenced McCowan on count 1 to 25 years to life in prison under the Three Strikes Law. It imposed the same sentence for count 2 but stayed it pursuant to section 654. On the enhancements, the court imposed two additional five-year terms for prior convictions and an additional one year for use of a weapon, for a total term of 36 years. The court ordered the sentence in this case to run concurrently with a separate sentence McCowan was then serving based on a conviction in another county. This sentence was reflected in the minute…