SB 1084: Sentencing.

Existing law authorizes a prisoner who was under 18 years of age at the time of committing an offense for which the prisoner was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole to submit a petition for recall and resentencing after he or she has served at least 15 years of his or her sentence. Existing law prohibits a prisoner who tortured his or her victim or whose victim was a public safety official, as defined, from filing a petition for recall and resentencing. Existing law establishes certain criteria, at least one of which shall be asserted in the petition, to be considered when a court decides whether to conduct a hearing on the petition for recall and resentencing and additional criteria to be considered by the court when deciding whether to grant the petition. Existing law requires the court to hold a hearing if the court finds that the statements in the defendants petition are true, as specified, and grants the court discretion to recall and resentence the defendant in the same manner as if he or she had not previously been sentenced, provided that the new sentence, if any, is not greater than the initial sentence. If the sentence is not recalled, existing law permits the defendant to submit another petition for recall when the defendant has been committed to the custody of the department for at least 20 years, and if the sentence is not recalled at that hearing, existing law allows the defendant to file another petition after having served 24 years.

This bill would instead authorize that prisoner to submit the petition for recall and resentencing after he or she has been incarcerated for 15 years. The bill would allow a defendant whose sentence was recalled, but who was resentenced to life without the possibility of parole, to make additional petitions as specified above. The bill would also require a court, if it finds by a preponderance of the evidence that one or more of the qualifying criteria are true, to recall the sentence previously ordered and hold a hearing to resentence the defendant. The bill would make other conforming changes.

Under existing law, most felonies are punishable by a triad of terms of incarceration in the state prison, comprised of low, middle, and upper lengths of terms. Until January 1, 2017, the choice of the appropriate term that is to best serve the interests of justice rests within the sound discretion of the court. On and after January 1, 2017, existing law requires the court to impose the middle term, unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation of the crime.

This bill would extend to January 1, 2022, the authority of the court to, in its sound discretion, impose the appropriate term that best serves the interests of justice. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2022, require the court to impose the middle term, unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation of the crime.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1170 of the Penal Code, proposed by AB 2590, that would become operative only if this bill and AB 2590 are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.