Hernandez

FACTS

Some cases do not sit well. This is one of them. In March 2021, the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) recommended that Guadalupe Hernandez’s sentence be recalled, and that he be resentenced in light of his stellar behavior during his 25 years of incarceration. On May 4, 2021, despite the fact that Hernandez had retained counsel, the CDCR’s recommendation was denied by the trial court—an order that affected Hernandez’s “substantial liberty interest” (People v. Mendez (2021) 69 Cal.App.5th 347, 351)—without attempting to notify Hernandez or his counsel that it was considering the issue. The court thereafter failed to provide notice to Hernandez that it had issued the order; instead, it served notice only on the Secretary of the CDCR. After Hernandez’s counsel learned directly from the CDCR of its resentencing recommendation, she appeared in the trial court and moved to set a case management conference to address the issue. The trial court denied the motion in an order stating it had already rejected the recommendation. Hernandez then moved for reconsideration of the resentencing recommendation, citing cases holding that it is an…