Mendoza

After a jury trial, defendant Ricky Mendoza was convicted of one count of first degree murder (Pen. Code, 1 § 187). The jury also made a true finding on the allegation that defendant had used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder. Defendant also admitted five prior convictions. Pursuant to section 667, subdivisions (b) through (i) (hereafter, the three strikes law), defendant was sentenced to a one-year determinate term to be followed by an indeterminate term of 75 years to life in prison.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury with CALJIC No. 2.71.5. He also contends that his counsel at trial (hereafter, the trial counsel) was ineffective because he failed to object to impeachment of defendant with multiple prior convictions and actually brought those convictions out voluntarily during direct examination of defendant. Finally, defendant argues that his indeterminate sentence of 75 years to life was improperly calculated.

In the published portion of the opinion, we conclude that the trial counsel was not ineffective in voluntarily bringing out defendant’s prior convictions on direct examination. We also conclude that…