People v. Pimentel CA2/1

INTRODUCTION

This case requires us to decide the retroactive reach of Assembly Bill No. 1950 (2019-2020 Reg. Sess.) (Assembly Bill 1950), which became effective on January 1, 2021, and which amended Penal Code section 1203.1, subdivision (a),1 by limiting probation terms for most felony offenses to two years. We are presented with conflicting interpretations of Assembly Bill 1950 by defendant Daniel Pimentel, who claims he must be given the full constitutional benefit of the amendment because his case is nonfinal, and by the Attorney General, who concedes that the amendment has retroactive impact, but nevertheless contends that Pimentel’s time on probation has not yet expired because it had been repeatedly tolled by section 1203.2, and was thus in a revoked status on January 1, 2021, when the new statute went into effect. In In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740 (Estrada), as well as its progeny, our high court has made clear that ameliorative penal statutes, such as Assembly Bill 1950, must be construed to apply to their full constitutionally permissible limit. The breadth of the Estrada holding prevails over the Attorney General’s arguments premised upon rules of statutory…