THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. RAFAT RAWHI ABDALLAH, Defendant and Appellant.
No. B262299
Second Dist., Div. Seven.
Apr. 19, 2016.
Rehearing Denied May 10, 2016
246 Cal. App. 4th 736
Jeffrey J. Douglas, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Mary Sanchez and Robert M. Snider, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
OPINION
SEGAL, J.—
INTRODUCTION
On June 18, 2014, a jury convicted Rafat Rawhi Abdallah of possession of methamphetamine while armed with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of methаmphetamine. On December 19, 2014, the trial court imposed an aggregate prison sentence of five years, which included a one-year enhancement pursuant to
Meanwhile, however, between Abdallah‘s conviction and sentencing in this case, in November 2014 the voters enacted Proposition 47, “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” (
Abdallah challenges the one-year enhancement the trial court imposed pursuant to
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In an information filed March 20, 2014, the People charged Abdallah with possession of methamphetamine while armed with a firearm (
In this case the jury convicted Abdallah as charged on June 18, 2014. On November 5, 2014, prior to sentencing, Proposition 47 became effective.
Before sentencing Abdallah, the trial court recalled Abdallah‘s sentence for his 2011 felony conviction pursuant to Proposition 47 and resentenced Abdallah to 365 days in county jail with credit for time served.3 The court similarly reduced count three in this case, possession of methamphetamine, to a misdemeanor, and sentenced Abdallah to one year in any penal institution on that count, concurrent with count one.
On count one for possession of methamphetamine while armed with a firеarm the trial court sentenced Abdallah to the lower term of two years, doubled under the three strikes law pursuant to
The court awarded Abdallah 501 days of custody credit and ordered him to pay various fines and fees. The trial court entered judgment on December 19, 2014. Abdallah timely appealed on February 13, 2015.
DISCUSSION
A. The Prior Prison Term Enhancement of Section 667.5, Subdivision (b)
The purpose of the prior prison term enhancement of
Courts sometimes refer to the fourth requirement, which exempts from the enhancement defendants who have not reoffended for five years, as ” ‘washing out.’ ” (Preston, supra, 176 Cal.App.4th at p. 1115; see People v. Fielder (2004) 114 Cal.App.4th 1221, 1229 [8 Cal.Rptr.3d 247] (Fielder).) “The phrase is apt becаuse it carries the connotation of a crime-free cleansing period of rehabilitation after a defendant has had the opportunity to reflect upon the error of his or her ways.” (Preston, at p. 1116; see People v. Humphrey (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 809, 813 [68 Cal.Rptr.2d 269].) “According to the ‘washout’ rule, if a defendant is free from both prison custody and the commission of a new felony for any five-year period following discharge from custody or release on parole, the enhancement does not apply.” (Fielder, at p. 1229;
Abdallah‘s 2002 conviction for driving under the influence and subsequent prison term implicated the one-year enhancement under
Abdallah was released on parole on his 2002 felony conviction on February 18, 2005, and less than five years later, on October 28, 2009, he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and subsequently convicted of a felony.5 Had the trial court not recalled and resentenced Abdallah for his 2011 felony conviction, the fourth requirement of
B. The One-year Sentence Enhancement Does Not Apply to a Defendant Who Commits an Offense Resulting in a Felony Conviction Where the Court Recalls the Felony Conviction and Resentences the Defendant Under Proposition 47 Before Sentencing the Defendant on Another Crime
Proposition 47 prospectively reduced certain felonies (including possession of methamphetamine by some defendants) to misdemeanors and created two separate mechanisms for reclassifying felony convictions as misdemeanors, depending on whether the defendant is “currently serving” a sentence for an eligible felony conviction or has “completed his or her sentence.” (Ruff, supra, 244 Cal.App.4th at p. 938; see People v. Williams (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 458, 466 [199 Cal.Rptr.3d 755] (Williams).)
At the time of Abdallah‘s 2011 conviction for possession of methamphetamine, the offense was a “wobbler,” meaning that it could be a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the punishment imposed. (
The trial court recalled and resentenced Abdallah for his 2011 conviction for possession of methamphetamine before sentencing him in this case.6 The question is whether, at the time the court sentenced Abdallah in the present case, Abdallah‘s original felony conviction in the 2011 case satisfied the fourth requirement of
” ’ “As in any case involving statutory interpretation, our fundamental task is to determine the Legislature‘s intent so as to effectuate the law‘s purpose.” ’ ” (People v. Moreno (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 934, 939 [180 Cal.Rptr.3d 522] (Moreno); People v. Cole (2006) 38 Cal.4th 964, 974-975 [44 Cal.Rptr.3d 261, 135 P.3d 669] (Cole).) “We examine the statutory language, and give it a plain and commonsense meaning. If the statutory language is unambiguous, then the plain meaning controls. [Citation.] It is only when the language supports more than one reasonable construction that we may look to extrinsic aids like legislative history and ostensible objectives.” (Moreno, at p. 939, citation omitted; see Cole, at p. 975.) “In the case of a provision adopted by the voters, ‘their intent governs.’ ” (People v. Rivera (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1085, 1099-1100 [183 Cal.Rptr.3d 362].)
Proposition 47 borrowed the “for all purposes” language of
In People v. Park, supra, 56 Cal.4th 782 (Park) the trial court enhanced the defendant‘s sentence by five years under
The same logic applies to sections
The People argue that the prior prison term enhancement nevertheless applies to Abdallah because he did “reoffend[] within five years” of his release on parole on the 2002 conviction, and the fact that the subsequent offense is no longer a felony is inconsequential. They contend that Proposition 47 does not intend to “go back in time” and apply retroactively to every affected offense in every context. Concluding that Abdallah is not eligible for the one-year sentence enhancement under
This case is therefore distinguishable from recent cases holding that Proposition 47 does not apply retroactively to redesignate predicate offenses as misdemeanors for purposes of imposing sentencing enhancements where the original sentence was imposed before the enactment of Proposition 47. (See, e.g., Williams, supra, 245 Cal.App.4th at p. 463; People v. Carrea (2016) 244 Cal.App.4th 966, 971 [198 Cal.Rptr.3d 753]; Ruff, supra, 244 Cal.App.4th at p. 943.) Indeed, those cases suggest that where, as here, a prior conviction is no longer a felony at the time the court imposes a sentence enhancement under
The People also argue that allowing Proposition 47 to “nullify” the prior prison term enhancement would be “contrary to the broad language of article I, sеction 28, subdivision (f) of the California Constitution, which requires the use of enhancements without limitation.” (See People v. Cressy (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 981, 992 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 237].) This constitutional provision provides in relevant part that “[a]ny prior felony conviction of any person in any criminal proceeding . . . shall subsequently be used without limitation for purposes of . . . enhancement of sentence in any criminal proceeding.” (
Moreover, in contrast to
Finally, the People argue that the one-year prior prison term sentence enhancement applies to Abdallah because the enhancement is based on a defendant‘s recidivist status, and not on the specific underlying conduct. Again, Park rejected a similar argument in the context of wobblers and
DISPOSITION
The one-year prior prison term enhancement is stricken. As modified, the judgment is affirmed. The trial court is directed to forward a corrected abstract of judgment to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Perluss, P. J., and Blumenfeld, J.,* concurred.
A petition for a rehearing was denied May 10, 2016, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above.
