People v. Floyd CA2/1

Filed 10/5/20 P. v. Floyd CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B306167

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. YA051229) v.

SYLVESTER FLOYD,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Laura C. Ellison, Judge. Affirmed. Richard B. Lennon, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Appellant Sylvester Floyd filed a motion in the trial court for modification of his “Three Strikes” sentence based on Penal Code1 section 1016.8. The court denied the motion, and he appealed. His appellate counsel filed a brief raising no issues on appeal. Floyd then filed a supplemental brief reasserting the arguments he raised in his motion and further arguing that his appellate counsel is constitutionally deficient for failing to raise issues on appeal. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY In November 1985, Floyd was convicted by plea of willful cruelty of a child causing great bodily injury. (§§ 273a, former subd. (1), 12022.7.) In April 1992, Floyd was convicted by plea of arson of an inhabited structure. (§ 451, subd. (b).) In 1994, the California Legislature and electorate separately enacted the Three Strikes law. (Stats. 1994, ch. 12, pp. 71–75 [amending section 667, effective March 7, 1994]; Prop. 184, as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 8, 1994) [enacting section 1170.12].) The crimes to which Floyd pleaded guilty in 1985 and 1992 qualified as serious or violent felonies, or strikes, under the Three Strikes law. (See §§ 667, subd. (d)(1), 667.5, subd. (c)(8) & (10), 1170.12, subd. (b)(1).) In 2002, a jury convicted Floyd of being a felon in possession of a firearm (former § 12021, subd. (a)(1)) and found that he had been convicted of two prior convictions that qualified as strikes under the Three Strikes law. The court sentenced him to prison for 25 years to life.