People v. Prieto CA2/7, B327387

Jeffrey Prieto was convicted of second-degree murder, sentenced to 15 years to life, and released on parole in April 2018 under conditions including completing a substance abuse program and maintaining contact with his parole agent.
Prieto failed multiple times to comply with parole conditions by not enrolling in or completing several mandated substance abuse programs, and by using controlled substances.
After being expelled from his latest substance abuse program (God’s Property Sober Living Foundation) for disrespectful behavior and non-participation, Prieto did not contact his parole agent or report his change in residence, and could not be located until he was arrested two months later.
The Department of Adult Parole Operations filed a petition to revoke parole, citing Prieto’s repeated parole violations and failure to comply with alternative intermediate sanctions.
The trial court overruled Prieto’s demurrer challenging procedural sufficiency of the petition and, after a hearing, found Prieto violated his parole by absconding and failing to complete the substance abuse program, remanding him to custody for the Board of Parole Hearings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the parole revocation petition	Petition met requirements despite absence of Prieto's statement	Petition was deficient for lacking Prieto’s statement as required	Petition was sufficient; no requirement to include absent statement
Consideration of intermediate sanctions	Sufficient alternative sanctions had been tried and failed	Department failed to consider less restrictive remedial sanctions	Alternate sanctions reasonably considered; further court action appropriate
Substantial evidence supporting parole violation finding	Prieto willfully absconded and failed to complete substance abuse terms	Prieto attempted to contact agent and could re-enroll in program	Substantial evidence supported trial court’s findings on both alleged violations
Mandatory revocation for lifetime parolees	Lifetime parolees must be remanded upon finding a violation	--	Court required by statute to remand Prieto for parole board consideration

People v. Zamudio, 12 Cal.App.5th 8 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017) (outlines process and standards for parole revocation and application of intermediate sanctions)
In re Eddie M., 31 Cal.4th 480 (Cal. 2003) (standard of review for parole revocation: preponderance of the evidence)
People v. Williams, 71 Cal.App.5th 1029 (Cal. Ct. App. 2021) (mandatory remand for lifetime parolees convicted of murder)
People v. Perlas, 47 Cal.App.5th 826 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) (defects in petitions do not mandate reversal unless substantial rights are affected)