People v. Williams CA5

INTRODUCTION

Appellant and defendant Pamela Lyn Williams was convicted of robbery in 2014 and sentenced to a second strike term of 12 years in prison, which included a five-year term for a prior serious felony conviction enhancement (Pen. Code, §667, subd. (a)). 1 In 2019, while defendant was serving her prison term, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) sent a letter to the Superior Court of Stanislaus County pursuant to the provisions of then-section 1170, subdivision (d), and recommended recall and resentencing in defendant’s case because the court now had discretion to dismiss the prior serious felony enhancement based on legislation enacted after her sentencing hearing. The court declined to recall her sentence. On appeal, defendant argued the court abused its discretion because it improperly focused on her criminal history and failed to consider evidence of her good behavior in prison. We found the court did not abuse its discretion and affirmed. Thereafter, we granted defendant’s petition for rehearing because of the enactment of section 1170.03, which altered the court’s procedures and consideration of a recommendation to…