California v. Guzman
Annotate this CaseDefendant Marcelo Virgen Guzman appealed a trial court’s denial of his petition to recall his prison sentence under the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012, added by Proposition 36. In 2006, a jury found Guzman guilty of one count each of felony receipt of stolen property and misdemeanor possession of burglary tools with intent to break and enter. The evidence at trial showed that in July 2004, deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to a residential neighborhood where they encountered Guzman walking toward a parked blue Toyota 4Runner. The deputies conducted a patdown search of Guzman and found items commonly used as burglary tools in his pockets, including a flathead screwdriver, a long flashlight, two AA batteries, and work gloves. The deputies also searched the Toyota 4Runner that Guzman had been driving, and found, inter alia, 27 pieces of jewelry that had been stolen two or three days earlier from a residence about a mile away from their encounter with Guzman. The Toyota 4Runner also contained a flashlight, several screwdrivers, a cell phone, a knife with a four- or five-inch blade, a two-way radio charger, and a pair of binoculars. The issue this case presented for the Court of Appeal's review centered on whether the definition of the phrase “‘unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,’” set forth in Penal Code section 1170.18, subdivision (c), contained in the recently passed Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, added by Proposition 47, applied to petitions brought under Proposition 36.1 The Court held that the definition of “‘unreasonable risk of danger to public safety’” contained in section 1170.18, subdivision (c) of Proposition 47 did not apply to a petition under Proposition 36. Furthermore, the Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the petition brought under Proposition 36. Based upon its review of the record and in the exercise of its discretion, the trial court found Guzman’s release would present an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety within the meaning of section 1170.126.
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