People v. Jones CA2/1

Filed 5/4/16 P. v. Jones CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, B266551

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA056827) v.

WILLIE LEE JONES,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Christopher Estes, Judge. Affirmed. Athena Shudde, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Mary Sanchez and Andrew S. Pruitt, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ——————————

On May 31, 2013, a jury convicted Willie Lee Jones (Jones) of transportation/sale of a controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11352, subdivision (a), and possession for sale of cocaine base, in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11351.5. Jones admitted to five prior prison term allegations under Penal Code section 667.5, subdivision (b).1 On June 14, 2013, the trial court struck one of the five allegations, and sentenced Jones to nine years in state prison, consisting of the upper term of five years for the transportation/sale count, and one year for each of the four remaining prior prison terms. On July 20, 2015, Jones filed a motion for resentencing (motion) asking the trial court to strike one of the four prior prison term enhancements, case No. PA052585, in which Jones had been convicted in 2005 of felony possession of a controlled substance in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11350, subdivision (a). Jones represented that in April 2015, the Los Angeles Superior Court had redesignated his felony conviction in case no. PA052585 to a misdemeanor pursuant to Proposition 47 (§ 1170.18, subd. (a)). As that conviction was no longer a felony, Jones argued it could not serve as the basis for a one-year prior prison term enhancement, and the trial court therefore should reduce his sentence by one year. In opposition, the People argued that the reduction to a misdemeanor did not affect the enhancement, as section 667.5, subdivision (b) was premised on the prior prison term and punished recidivism, rather than the nature of the prior conviction. At the hearing on Jones’s motion, Jones’s counsel argued that once the prior felony conviction had been reduced to a misdemeanor, it was “a misdemeanor for all purposes,” which included the purpose of imposing the one-year prior prison term enhancement (“Mr. Jones went to prison on a misdemeanor. That condition precedent of the felony conviction ceases to exist”). The district attorney rejoined that the “one-year prior . . . was a felony at the time that the defendant was sentenced to that additional time in prison.” Noting that no published opinions then dealt with the issue, the court