People v. Jones CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Procedural background On October 7, 2016, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed a felony complaint charging Jones with driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and causing injury to another (Veh. Code, § 23153, subd. (a); count 1), and DUI with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent and causing injury to another (Veh. Code, § 23153, subd. (b); count 2). The complaint further alleged that, in the course of committing counts 1 and 2, Jones personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim (Pen. Code, §§ 1203, subd. (e)(3), 12022.7),2 and had three prior strike convictions (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12), two of which also qualified as prior serious felony convictions (§ 667, subd. (a)).3 At Jones’s change of plea hearing on September 8, 2017, the trial court expressly advised Jones that he faced a “minimum sentence [of] 25 years to life,” if his Romero motion were denied.4 After Jones replied that he understood, he pleaded no contest to both counts in the amended complaint, admitted the great-bodily-injury enhancement allegations, and admitted the prior strike and prior serious felony conviction allegations.

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