People v. Mitchell CA2/8

BACKGROUND

Defendant was charged with criminal conspiracy, three counts of second degree robbery and three counts of attempted second degree robbery. The jury acquitted him on one of the robbery counts but otherwise convicted him as charged. The court sentenced defendant to 21 years in prison and awarded 1,624 days of presentence custody credits. Defendant appealed, arguing the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on juror misconduct and that none of the six counts on which he was convicted was supported by substantial evidence. In our original unpublished opinion filed October 11, 2018, we affirmed defendant’s conviction in its entirety. The Supreme Court granted review and transferred the case to us with directions to vacate our decision and reconsider the cause in light of the then-recent passage of Senate Bill No. 1393 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.). Senate Bill No. 1393 became effective January 1, 2019, and granted trial courts the discretion to strike recidivist enhancements imposed under Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a)(1). (Stats. 2018, ch. 1013, § 1.) At the time defendant was originally sentenced in 2017, imposition of the enhancement was mandatory.…