People v. Gaines CA2/3

INTRODUCTION

In March 2017, defendant Dillon Mitchel Gaines pled no contest to a violation of Penal Code section 261.5, subdivision (c).1 The trial court suspended the imposition of sentence and placed defendant on probation for five years—the maximum term of probation authorized under former section 1203.1, subdivision (a).2 The court revoked and reinstated probation several times. In November 2019, the court summarily revoked defendant’s probation for the final time and at the probation violation hearing conducted in July 2021, the court terminated probation and imposed a sentence of 16 months to be served in county jail. Defendant argues the court lacked jurisdiction to terminate probation and impose a sentence in July 2021. Specifically, he argues that Assembly Bill No. 19503 (2019–2020 Reg. Sess.) (AB 1950), a legislative enactment that lowered the maximum term of probation for most felony offenders from five years to two years and which became effective in January 2021, retroactively and automatically modified his probation term to two years. Defendant posits that his term of probation, as modified by AB 1950, should be deemed to have ended in March 2019, effectively…