Fowler

Defendant William Fowler was convicted of engaging in an act of oral copulation while confined in a detention facility. In addition, it was found true he had suffered two prior serious felony convictions (a 1983 juvenile adjudication for rape and a 1990 adult rape conviction) within the meaning of the three strikes law found in Penal Code section 667, subdivisions (b)-(i).

On appeal, defendant claims the application of the three strikes law runs afoul of the Constitution by including within the definition of a prior strike certain prior juvenile adjudications which did not afford the then-juvenile defendant a right to a jury trial. The published portion of this opinion addresses and rejects this assertion. In addition, defendant claims his case must be remanded for resentencing because the trial court was not aware it had discretion to strike one or more of his prior serious felony convictions. In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we agree to remand the matter for the trial court to exercise its discretion on the question of whether a prior strike should be stricken in the interest of justice; additionally, we reject defendant’s claim that an express finding of…