People v. Fuentes CA1/2

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Francisco Manolo Fuentes seeks a new sentencing hearing based on recent amendments to section 1170, subdivision (b) of the Penal Code. The trial court had placed Fuentes on probation for multiple prior crimes, including falsely imprisoning a domestic partner (Penal Code, § 236).1 After Fuentes violated his probation the trial court revoked it, sentenced him instead to three years’ imprisonment—the upper of three possible sentencing terms. The Legislature recently amended section 1170, subdivision (b) to modify the rules for criminal sentencing. Where a statute specifies three possible sentencing terms—a low, middle, and upper term—the general rule

1Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 now is that the trial court should impose the middle term. The court may only impose a “sentence exceeding the middle term . . . where there are aggravating circumstances in the crime and the defendant has either stipulated to the facts underlying those circumstances or they have been found true beyond a reasonable doubt.” (People v. Flores (2022) 75 Cal.App.5th 495, 500 (Flores), citing § 1170, subd. (b)(3).) For defendants under age 26,…