Clytus

*1004 Opinion

Defendant Donald A. Clytus was sentenced in 2010 to a term of three years eight months in state prison after pleading no contest to unlawfully taking a vehicle (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)) and identity theft (Pen. Code, § 530.5, subd. (a)). 1 The trial court suspended execution of sentence and granted three years’ probation. Defendant did not comply with the terms of his probation, and the court revoked probation. At a probation violation hearing held October 14, 2011, defendant admitted violating his probation. The trial court declined to reinstate probation and executed the previously suspended sentence, ordering defendant to serve his term in state prison.

The sole question raised on appeal is whether the Criminal Justice Realignment Act of 2011 (hereafter Realignment Act or Act) (Stats. 2011, 1st Ex. Sess. 2011-2012, ch. 12, § 1; § 1170, subd. (h)), which “[r]ealign[ed] low-level felony offenders who do not have prior convictions for serious, violent, or sex offenses to locally run community-based corrections programs” (§ 17.5, subd. (a)(5)), permitted the trial court to order defendant’s sentence to be served in prison. When the court imposed and suspended…