Cepeda

INTRODUCTION

In 2018, defendant and appellant Julio Arturo Cepeda pled guilty to carjacking as a second strike, and admitted he sustained a prior serious felony conviction. The trial court sentenced him to 15 years in state prison, which included a five-year enhancement for the prior serious felony conviction. At the time of Cepeda’s plea and sentence, courts were prohibited from striking serious felony enhancements under Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a)(1).1 In 2020, the secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) sent a letter to the trial court invoking the sentence recall provision of section 1170, subdivision (d)(1). The secretary’s letter noted Cepeda’s sentence included a five-year enhancement imposed under section 667, subdivision (a)(1), and that Senate Bill No. 1393 (“SB 1393”) had given courts the discretion to strike such enhancements. The trial court recalled the sentence and held a resentencing hearing under section 1170, subdivision (d)(1), at which it declined to strike Cepeda’s enhancement. The court based its decision on (1) deference to what it thought the original sentencing judge might have done if given the option…