People v. Phillips CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

Alonzo Dewitt Phillips is 53 years old and has been convicted of multiple felonies in the course of a long criminal history. He is also a partially blind amputee with a heart condition. Phillips was 18 years old when he was convicted of committing his first strike in 1986, as defined in the “Three Strikes” law, Penal Code section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i) and section 1170.12.1 He received a two-year prison term. Shortly after his release, Phillips was again convicted, this time for oral copulation with a child under age 14 (see former § 288a, subd. (c)) and for rape by force (§ 261, subd. (a)(2)). Phillips was subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 Turning to the current offense, in 2018 officers from the Clearlake Police Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office evicted Phillips from the recreational vehicle (RV) on the property where he was living. A records check revealed that Phillips was required to register as a sex offender and was on active probation in Napa County. At the time, Phillips was registered as a transient. The property owner told the officers that Phillips had been…