People v. Dennis CA3

BACKGROUND

In January 2015, defendant entered a bank and “scribbled a note on a business card and slid it across for [a bank employee] to read. The note said, ‘It’s a robbery. I need 9.’ Defendant then stated he needed $9,000 and told [the bank employee] he had a gun and a bomb.” Defendant left the bank with nearly $3,000. “An amended information charged defendant with two counts of robbery, and alleged two prior serious felony convictions that also constituted strikes within the meaning of the three strikes law. (§§ 667, subd. (a), 667, subd. (b)-(i), 1170.12.)” “The jury found defendant guilty of all charges. In a bifurcated proceeding, the court found the prior serious felony and strike allegations true. Prior to sentencing, defendant submitted a statement in mitigation asking the court to strike his prior strikes, arguing the court should grant him leniency because he had been self-medicating a mental illness or disability that did not amount to a defense and that he was ‘not “in the spirit” ’ of the three strikes law. . . . [¶] The court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of 35 years to life calculated as follows: an indeterminate term of 25 years to life for each…