People v. Shelp

Filed 11/20/20 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B298753 (Super. Ct. No. 1498298H) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Santa Barbara County)

v.

NICOLAS ALLAN SHELP,

Defendant and Appellant.

This appeal presents the novel issue of whether custody credits (Pen. Code, § 4019)1 accrue with each Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) flash incarceration or jail sanction, thereby shortening the PRCS three-year supervision period. (§ 3455, subd. (e).) The trial court said “No.” So do we. The very thought of custody credits whittling down a PRCS supervision period is counter-intuitive and counterproductive. Appellant posits: The more jail time served for violating PRCS, the shorter the PRCS supervision period. This defeats the legislative goal of supervision for someone, like appellant, who is in dire need of supervision, guidance, and help.

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code.

This is a matter of statutory construction and subject to de novo review. Our primary goal in interpreting the Criminal Justice Realignment Act of 2011 (Stats. 2011, ch. 15, § 1; Stats. 2011, 1st Ex. Sess. 2011-2012, ch. 12, § 1 (Realignment Act); codified as § 3450 et seq.) is to give the words of the Act a plain and commonsense meaning. (E.g., People v. Gonzales (2017) 2 Cal.5th 1138, 1141.) We are not at liberty to add to or delete words to accomplish a purpose that is contrary to the Act’s goal, i.e., local supervision and rehabilitation of a felon. (§§ 17.5, subd. (a)(1) & (a)(8); 3451, subd. (a); People v. Samuels (2018) 21 Cal.App.5th 962, 968 (Samuels).) Appellant claims that custody credits accrue with each PRCS flash incarceration and jail incarceration, and the custody credits automatically shorten the three-year PRCS supervision period. (§ 3455, subd. (e).) The argument is flawed on two theories. First, PRCS was enacted to rehabilitate non- violent felons at the local level. It was not enacted to reward the felon with custody credits that can theoretically reduce the PRCS supervision period to zero. Second, the word “supervision” in PCRS means just that. Because PRCS supervision is not a sentence, the supervision period is not shortened by custody credits. The leading treatise on criminal sentencing states: “[T]here is no relationship between the time the person serves in custody on a [PRCS] violation and the length of supervision - these two variables proceed on entirely separate tracks.” (Couzens et al, Sentencing Cal. Crimes, Sentencing After Realignment (The Rutter Group 2019) [¶] 11:93, p. 11-184.) Today’s appeal is consistent with People v. Espinoza (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 635 (Espinoza). There, a