People v. MazurPeople v. Mazur
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2
In 2017, a jury found Mazur guilty of 35 offenses against multiple victims, including multiple counts of grand theft and securities fraud, based on his perpetration of a fraudulent investment scheme over many years. (In re Mazur, supra, 81 Cal.App.5th at pp. 206–207). Specifically, “Mazur and his co-defendant defrauded investors of millions of dollars by misrepresenting the success of a medical device company that they owned.” (Id. at p. 206.) The jury also found multiple enhancements to be true, including an on-bail enhancement (
After the trial court sentenced Mazur to 35 years eight months in prison, this court reversed two of his convictions and remanded the matter for resentencing. (People v. Mazur, supra, D073268.) On remand, the trial court resentenced Mazur to 27 years in prison. In a subsequent habeas proceeding, however, we struck the on-bail enhancement and again remanded for resentencing. (In re Mazur, supra, 81 Cal.App.5th at pp. 214–215.)
“I also need to look at the entirety of the case. And . . . I can‘t eliminate from my mind the extreme distress and distraught nature of the victims in this case and how the frauds, on some of them in particular, destroyed their lives and their families’ lives.
“There were some victims who took it in stride. They had financial wherewithal and they could just move on from their mistake. But there were others, [R.B.] . . . who then convinced other family members to invest. This was a situation that devastated her.
“Mr. [P], who was blind and 95, I believe, that was such an extreme act towards such an elderly person and caused great emotional distress to his daughter.
“When I look at all of the victims and look at the amount of taking and recognize that at the end of the day, the actual sentence for each of the individual victims is quite small. The only reason that the sentence is large is because there were so many of them.
“And the white-collar crime enhancement exists to show, I think, that an additional punishment is appropriate because of the great taking, which isn‘t really represented by just the number of victims. “So I do not find that it is in the interest of justice to strike that enhancement, even taking into account Mr. Mazur‘s obvious poor health.”
DISCUSSION
On appeal, Mazur does not argue that the trial court abused its discretion by finding that dismissal of the white-collar enhancement was not in the interest of justice. Mazur nevertheless argues that the trial court was required to dismiss the enhancement under
“For all criminal sentencings after January 1, 2022, our Legislature in Senate Bill No. 81 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2021, ch. 721, § 1) has provided direction on how trial courts are to exercise their discretion in deciding whether to dismiss sentencing enhancements.” (People v. Walker (2022) 86 Cal.App.5th 386, 391, review granted March 22, 2023, S278309 (Walker).)3 Specifically,
The nine listed “mitigating circumstances” include factors such as mental illness, prior victimization, childhood trauma, use of an inoperable or unloaded firearm, the defendant‘s status as a juvenile, and the use of a prior conviction that is over five years old. (
Mazur expressly disclaims any argument that the “shall be dismissed” language of subdivisions (c)(2)(B) and (c)(2)(C) requires dismissal in every case in which an enhancement results in a total sentence of over 20 years or multiple enhancements are alleged. Other California courts have
Mazur instead argues that dismissal is required whenever either subdivision (c)(2)(B) or subdivision (c)(2)(C) applies and the trial court does not find that dismissal would endanger public safety. According to Mazur, dismissal of the white-collar enhancement was mandatory here because the trial court did not find that it would endanger public safety. In response, however, the People argue that a court is only required to dismiss an enhancement under section 1385, subdivision (c) when it finds that it is in furtherance of justice to do so—and the trial court here expressly determined that it was not. According to the People, even when a subdivision (c)(2)(B) or (c)(2)(C) mitigating circumstance applies, the statute only requires the court to give it “great weight” in making a discretionary determination whether dismissal is in furtherance of justice, just as the trial court did here. (
We agree with the People. As our sister courts have concluded, the statutory phrase “shall be dismissed” in
The statutory language does not support Mazur‘s argument that dismissal is mandatory under subdivision (c)(2)(B) or (c)(2)(C) whenever the court makes no finding that it would endanger public safety. By its terms, the “endanger public safety” language pertains only to the weight a trial court must give to the mitigating circumstances. Subdivision (c)(2) states that, absent a finding that dismissal “would endanger public safety,” the presence of any “one or more” of the listed mitigating circumstances “weighs greatly” in favor of dismissal. (
“As the plain text of section 1385 repeatedly emphasizes, its purpose is to grant trial court discretion to dismiss enhancements. And the purpose of Senate Bill No. 81, as reflected in the Legislative Digest, is to encourage exercise of that discretion by making dismissal mandatory if it is in the furtherance of justice to do so.” (Walker, supra, 86 Cal.App.5th at p. 397, review granted (second italics added); see Legis. Counsel‘s Dig., Sen. Bill No. 81, Stats. 2021, ch. 721 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.).) “In other words, the dismissal of the enhancement is conditioned on the court‘s finding dismissal is in the interest of justice.” (Anderson, supra, 88 Cal.App.5th at p. 239, review granted.) “[T]he ultimate question before the trial court remains whether it is in the furtherance of justice to dismiss an enhancement.” (Ortiz, supra, 87 Cal.App.5th at p. 1098, review granted; see also People v. Ponder (Oct. 26, 2023, A166053) __ Cal.App.5th __, __ [2023 Cal.App. Lexis 839, at p. *16] [“[W]e reject defendant‘s argument that section 1385(c)(2) requires dismissal of an enhancement when a mitigating circumstance is present unless the sentencing court finds dismissal would endanger public safety. Instead, we agree with Ortiz that the court retains discretion under section 1385(c)(2) to choose not to dismiss the enhancement in the furtherance of justice for reasons other than public safety.“].)
We therefore reject Mazur‘s contention that dismissal of an enhancement can be mandatory under section 1385, subdivision (c) even when the court finds that it is not in furtherance of justice. The trial court must find that any dismissal under subdivision (c) is in “furtherance of justice.” (
Finally, we note that the “shall be dismissed” language of subdivisions (c)(2)(B) and (c)(2)(C) has a logical meaning other than to override the controlling “furtherance of justice” standard. In the case of multiple enhancements alleged in a single case, the statute specifies that if the trial court finds dismissal is in furtherance of justice, then “all enhancements beyond a single enhancement shall be dismissed.” (
Because the trial court explicitly found that dismissal was not in the interest of justice, and Mazur does not contest that finding, he has failed to
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed.
BUCHANAN, J.
WE CONCUR:
IRION, Acting P.J.
DO, J.