78 Cal.App.5th 120
Cal. Ct. App.2022Background
- April 2018: Yang charged with assault and child abuse; found incompetent to stand trial (§ 1368) and committed to Department of State Hospitals.
- Aug 13, 2018–Aug 7, 2019: Confined at Napa State Hospital for competency restoration; returned to county jail and found competent Aug 14, 2019.
- Late Aug 2019: Pleaded no contest to amended assault charge; court imposed four-year sentence, suspended, placed on probation; probation later revoked and sentence executed.
- At sentencing (May 13, 2021) court awarded 614 days actual credit (including hospital time) and 254 days conduct credit for county jail time, denying conduct credit for 359 days at Napa State Hospital.
- Yang appealed, arguing (1) SB 317 (2021) should apply retroactively to award hospital conduct credits and (2) equal protection requires awarding conduct credits under SB 1187 (2019) to IST patients treated in state hospitals as well as county jail facilities.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retroactivity of SB 317 (2021) | Brown controls; amendments to §4019 are prospective only | SB 317 should apply retroactively under Estrada | SB 317 not retroactive under Brown; Estrada does not require retroactivity |
| Equal protection re: SB 1187 (2019) — credits for IST in jail but not state hospitals | Rational basis: disparate treatment rationally related to penological concerns; jail setting warrants incentives | Similarly situated; location-based denial of credits violates equal protection | Groups sufficiently similar; strict scrutiny applies; People failed to justify disparity; award conduct credits for hospital time beginning Jan 1, 2019 |
| Appropriate level of scrutiny for conduct-credit disparities | Apply rational basis review | Apply strict scrutiny because credits affect liberty | Strict scrutiny applies (following Saffell, Sage, Caruso) |
| Remedy / Relief | People briefly argued reduction under §2933.1 but abandoned that issue | Recalculate and award conduct credits for qualifying hospital time | Remand for resentencing; trial court to recalculate credits and award conduct credits for Napa State Hospital time starting Jan 1, 2019; prepare amended abstract |
Key Cases Cited
- People v. Brown, 54 Cal.4th 314 (Cal. 2012) (amendments increasing custody credits applied prospectively; Estrada not triggered)
- In re Estrada, 63 Cal.2d 740 (Cal. 1965) (general rule favoring retroactivity where statute mitigates punishment)
- People v. Waterman, 42 Cal.3d 565 (Cal. 1986) (distinguished conduct credits for IST defendants in state hospitals)
- People v. Saffell, 25 Cal.3d 223 (Cal. 1979) (applied compelling-interest test to deny good-time credits for certain civil commitments)
- People v. Sage, 26 Cal.3d 498 (Cal. 1980) (found equal protection violation where no compelling justification existed for credit disparity)
- People v. Caruso, 161 Cal.App.3d 13 (Cal. Ct. App. 1984) (applied strict scrutiny to conduct-credit disparity and emphasized liberty impact)