People v. Smith CA3

Filed 1/27/25 P. v. Smith CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

THE PEOPLE, C100270

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. CR-2005-468)

v.

STEVE ALAN SMITH,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Steve Alan Smith beat his wife into unconsciousness in front of their children and was found guilty of several domestic violence related offenses; he was sentenced as a third strike offender to an aggregate term of 57 years to life in prison, and the judgment was affirmed on appeal. (People v. Smith (Apr. 19, 2007, C050287) [nonpub. opn.] (Smith).)

1

Later, in defendant’s absence, the trial court partially granted his Penal Code section 1172.751 petition for recall and resentencing, striking several enhancements, including two no longer valid prior prison term enhancements, but again declining to strike defendant’s prior strike convictions. The trial court reimposed terms of 25 years to life on two counts for a total aggregate sentence of 50 years to life. On appeal, the parties agree, and we concur, that the trial court erred in conducting the resentencing hearing without defendant present. Because we do not find the constitutional error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we shall reverse and remand for further resentencing proceedings. BACKGROUND A. The Charges, the Verdicts, and the Sentence We summarize the pertinent facts from our prior opinion in Smith, supra, C050287. In October 2004, defendant’s wife was living with her two teenaged daughters in an apartment in West Sacramento. Defendant had been away for a long period of time, and in the interim, his wife had a boyfriend. After returning and finding letters from the boyfriend, defendant attacked his wife with a tree branch, choked her, shoved her against a dumpster, and hit her head against it. Later, while their daughters were present, defendant repeatedly struck his wife in the face with a phone, causing her to lose consciousness. As a result of the attack, defendant’s wife suffered a broken nose, missing teeth, and brain injuries; she had a stroke from an injury to her carotid artery, remained in the hospital and a nursing home for four months, and continued to experience partial paralysis at the time of trial.