Kim

*1358 Opinion

In what might serve as a monument to our “Byzantine” sentencing law (People v. Velasquez (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 503, 505 [ 81 Cal.Rptr.2d 647 ]), we are called upon to decide how many lifetimes a defendant can be sentenced to spend in prison based upon a plea agreement calling for him to spend only one. We hold that where a criminal defendant enters a guilty plea on the understanding that he will serve one lifetime in prison, he cannot be sentenced to serve two or more lifetimes without first being given an opportunity to withdraw his plea. Because defendant Somnang Kim was sentenced to several lifetimes without being offered that choice, we will reverse the judgment and remand with directions.

Background

In late 2003, defendant and two fellow gang members, Savin Sam and Bunnrith Pech, engaged in several shooting rampages in which each of them carried and discharged a firearm. In total they shot at 15 people, killing three of them. A few months earlier defendant had shot at two other people. All three men were charged by indictment with three counts of murder and, in defendant’s case, 13 counts of attempted murder, plus three counts of assault with a firearm. 1 The…