People v. Caliz CA2/5

Filed 6/29/21 P. v. Caliz CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B304315

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA071133) v.

KENYA MELISSA CALIZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Shannon Knight, Judge. Affirmed. Laini Millar Melnick, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Blythe J. Leszkay, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Peggy Z. Huang, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

In 2017, defendant and appellant Kenya Melissa Caliz (defendant) entered a state prison and attempted to transfer contraband—marijuana—to an inmate in the prison’s visiting area. In a subsequent search of her person, prison authorities found several small packages of marijuana. The People charged defendant with violating Penal Code section 4573.6, subdivision (a), which makes it a crime to possess a controlled substance (listed in a specified division of the Health and Safety Code, including marijuana) in a prison. Defendant pled no contest to the charge, and the trial court sentenced her to three-years’ probation with a condition that she perform 30 days of community service. Later, in 2019, defendant petitioned for “dismissal and sealing or reduction and resentencing” of her conviction, under Health and Safety Code section 11361.8, a statute enacted as part of Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Proposition 64).1 The People opposed defendant’s petition, asserting Proposition 64 did not authorize retroactive relief for those, like defendant, who were convicted of possessing marijuana in a prison. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11362.45, subd. (d) [Health and Safety Code section 11362.1, which generally legalizes adult possession 28.5 grams or less of cannabis under California law, “does not amend, repeal, affect, restrict, or preempt [¶] . . . [¶] [l]aws pertaining to smoking or