People v. Bates

Defendant David Richard Bates shot M.H. in the head, killing him. A jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and the court sentenced him to 18 years in state prison.

On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred in refusing his request to instruct the jury regarding the effect of the victim's past harmful or threatening conduct on the reasonableness of a defendant's belief in the need for self-defense. He also challenges imposition of a five-year prior serious felony enhancement under Penal Code section 667, subdivision (a)(1) 1 on several grounds, including that the sentence was unauthorized because the information did not allege such an enhancement nor did he admit a prior serious felony conviction for that purpose, that it violated due process because he was given inadequate notice of the enhancement, that his counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to object to the enhancement, and that even if the enhancement was proper, the matter must be remanded to allow the trial court to exercise newly granted discretion to strike the prior serious felony enhancement under Senate Bill No. 1393 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.).

We conclude the trial court did not err in…