People v. Luna CA1/5

Filed 9/4/24 P. v. Luna CA1/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A168610 v.

STEVEN CHARLES LUNA, JR., (Mendocino County Super. Ct. No. 21CR00659) Defendant and Appellant.

After a series of probation violations, the trial court revoked Stephen Charles Luna, Jr.’s probation and imposed a previously suspended four-year prison sentence for first degree burglary. In this appeal, Luna maintains that his case should be remanded for the trial court to consider whether Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (b)(6)(A)1, which took effect in January 2022, requires imposition of a shorter prison term based on the trauma he has suffered. (See Senate Bill No. 567 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.), Stats. 2021, ch. 731, § 1.3, eff. Jan. 1, 2022.) The People likewise urge that a remand for resentencing is appropriate. We agree.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 1

BACKGROUND

A.

Between October 2020 and March 2021, Luna broke into an unoccupied home in Mendocino County and resided there over the course of a few months. Numerous items from the home were damaged or stolen. Luna subsequently entered a plea of nolo contendere to first degree burglary. He did not agree to any specific term of incarceration in connection with his plea.

Luna’s sentencing memorandum stated that “[a]t the time of the offense, [he] was deeply entrenched in his alcoholism and homeless[ness], which is what first prompted him to seek shelter in the home once the weather turned cold.”

According to his sentencing memorandum, Luna’s childhood was marked by his mother’s alcoholism, which began when he was about nine years old, after his parents separated. Alcoholism was “a fact of life in the household” and Luna “saw that adults cope by drinking.” Luna, “as the eldest child, was essentially left to raise himself[] [and] his three brothers, and to care for his mother while she succumbed to her alcoholism.” His mother died in 2007 of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.