People v. Mitchell

I agree with the majority that Mitchell should receive Penal Code section 2933 prison credits from his January 29, 2003, formal exclusion from the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) until his June 10, 2003, sentencing. (All further undesignated section references are to the Penal Code.) Thus, I concur with the holdings in sections A and B of the majority opinion. However, Mitchell should receive neither section 4019 nor section 2933 credits from his January 8, 2003, CRC arrival until his January 29, 2003, formal CRC exclusion. Therefore, I dissent from section C of the majority opinion, as well as the first paragraph of section B.3. I set out some additional facts that help explain my conclusions.

On the November 25, 2002, trial date, the court called the new case and two of Mitchell’s prior cases (presumably those for which he still was on parole). Mitchell’s lawyer then said: “[Wjhen we had discussed disposition of this matter, the court indicated that [it] would accept a plea with a five-year commitment to CRC [Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3000 et seq.], and [Mitchell] does wish to do that.” After valid advisements and waivers, Mitchell pled no contest to counts 1 and 2, and…

For his part of a negotiated plea agreement, Joseph D. Mitchell pled no contest to one count of felony possession of cocaine base and one misdemeanor count of possession of paraphernalia, and admitted he had suffered two strikes and served five prior prison terms. For its part, the trial court struck the admitted strikes and all but two of the prior prison term allegations, sentenced Mitchell to state prison for a term of five years, suspended execution of the sentence, and (on November 25, 2002) committed Mitchell to the California Rehabilitation Center for treatment. Mitchell arrived at CRC on January 8, 2003. On January 29, Mitchell was declared ineligible for CRC because he was on parole at the time of his commitment— but he was not transferred to the Los Angeles County jail for resentencing until May 2. On June 10, Mitchell’s suspended sentence was imposed and he was sent to prison. This appeal is from that judgment.

DISCUSSION

When Mitchell was resentenced on June 10, the prosecutor said, “if the court wants to give him good time/work time from [January 8], I don’t have any opposition.” The trial court rejected this simple approach, gave Mitchell actual and…