People v. Garth CA1/1

BACKGROUND

In October 2021, then 20-year-old Ariana Garth entered a Sunglasses Hut with two associates. The three proceeded to fill bags with approximately $30,000 of merchandise and fled the store without paying. They left in an

1 SUV that defendant was driving, and defendant led police on a high-speed chase. The district attorney filed a complaint alleging one count of felony evading a police officer (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a)), one count of felony grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (a))1 and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest (§ 148, subd. (a)(1)). Defendant pleaded no contest. At the November 2021 sentencing hearing, defense counsel asked the court to consider the low term and refer defendant to probation citing two “ameliorative sentencing statutes” that would amend section 1170 and would be applicable to defendant as she was “under the age of 26” and because of the “childhood turmoil and trauma” she has suffered. The court weighed defendant’s youth and “any hardships that she’s had since a child” against her prior history on probation, and the “fact that she led law enforcement on a high-speed [chase],” among other factors, and sentenced defendant to two…