People v. Torres
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Defendant was convicted by jury for discharging a firearm with gross negligence (count 1), unlawfully causing a fire to an inhabited structure or property (count 2), unlawfully setting fire to property of another (counts 3 & 4), three counts of corporal injury to a spouse (counts 6, 12, 13), assault with a deadly weapon (count 7), dissuading a witness from reporting a crime (count 9), misdemeanor false imprisonment (count 10), and battery on a spouse (count 11). Defendant also entered a plea to felony vandalism (count 5).
The Court of Appeal held that the newly enacted mental health diversion statute, Penal Code, section 1001.36, cannot be applied on appeal after conviction and sentence. Even assuming that section 1001.36 is retroactive, defendant was not eligible for mental health diversion because he did not suffer from a qualifying mental disorder that played a significant role in the commission of the charged offenses. However, the court held that the act of setting fire to a pile of property, some of which belonged to wife and some of which belonged to the landlord, does not support two convictions for the same offense. Accordingly, the court reversed count 4 and the six-month jail sentence on count 4 was stricken. The sentence remained the same and the judgment, as modified, was affirmed.
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