People v. Garcia CA4/1

Filed 2/28/25 P. v. Garcia CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D083367

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCS207397)

SAMUEL MICHAEL GARCIA, JR.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Lisa R. Rodriguez, Judge. Affirmed and remanded with directions. Siri Shetty, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Kathryn Kirschbaum and Collette C. Cavalier, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Samuel Michael Garcia, Jr. appeals from an order denying his resentencing petition under Penal Code section 1172.75. He contends the court erred by declining to hold a resentencing hearing because the abstract

of judgment includes a prison prior enhancement. Yet the People argue, and we agree, the court properly declined to hold a resentencing hearing because the court did not orally impose a prison prior enhancement at Garcia’s original sentencing hearing. Resolving this matter by memorandum opinion (see generally People v. Garcia (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 847), we therefore affirm the order and remand with directions. I. In 2009, Garcia was convicted of aggravated kidnapping, robbery, committing a lewd act on a child aged 14-15, and sexual battery by restraint. He also admitted two violent felony priors, one serious felony prior, and one strike prior. The court sentenced him to prison for an indeterminate term of life plus one year and a determinate term of 15 years and 4 months. Effective January 2022, the Legislature enacted section 1172.75 (Stats. 2021, ch. 728, § 3), which rendered “legally invalid,” subject to exceptions not relevant here, prison prior enhancements imposed under section 667.5(b). (§ 1172.75, subd. (a).) Once the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation identifies a defendant serving a sentence for a judgment that includes such an enhancement, the sentencing court must determine if the judgment in fact includes the enhancement. (§ 1172.75(b)-(c).) If so, the court must recall the sentence and resentence the defendant. (§ 1172.75(c).) In 2023, the trial court declined to recall Garcia’s sentence and resentence him under section 1172.75 because it found no prison prior was imposed under section 667.5(b) during the original sentencing. The court therefore found him ineligible for relief under the statute.