Garrett

Defendant William Joseph Garrett pled guilty to a residential burglary, a second degree burglary, and a vehicle theft all occurring in 1998, and the trial court found true five “Three Strikes” priors. The court sentenced defendant to 25 years to life in state prison on May 12, 2000, after the March 7, 2000 passage of Proposition 21 amended the definition of serious felony burglary, Penal Code section 1192.7, subdivision (c)(18) 1 (hereafter section 1192.7(c)(18)). On appeal, defendant asserts that his prior second degree residential burglaries were not strike priors under newly amended section 1192.7(c)(18).

Facts

On March 30, 1998, someone entered the home of Aldo and Heidi Oliveri through a kitchen window (outside of which defendant’s fingerprint was found) and took “everything.” A fur coat, jewelry, two wallets containing cash, Social Security cards, credit cards, the main telephone with the answering machine, a camcorder and other electronic equipment, and “a lot of my husband’s technical equipment” were taken. A month later, three stolen checks were forged and a phone card was used by a couple who had obtained the phone card from defendant. Defendant was charged…