California v. Stewart
Annotate this CaseThyrone Stewart was a veteran, honorably discharged from the Army in 1976. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which was determined to be related to his military service. In 1986 and again in 1992, he was convicted of first degree burglary. In 2001, after being convicted on two counts of spousal battery (among other things), he was sentenced, as a third-striker, to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison. In 2018, the California Legislature amended section 1170.91 so as to allow a convicted veteran who suffers from a specified disorder as a result of his or her military service to petition for resentencing, so that that disorder may be considered as a mitigating factor when imposing a determinate term. Petitioner sought resentencing under section 1170.91. The trial court denied the petition because petitioner had been sentenced to indeterminate terms. Petitioner contended this was error because, if resentenced, there was a possibility that he could be sentenced to determinate terms. Specifically, he argued he could bring a motion under California v. Superior Court (Romero), 13 Cal.4th 497 (1996) to strike one or more of his strike priors. The Court of Appeal considered whether Stewart would be entitled to be sentenced to determinate terms under Proposition 36, but concluded neither possibility was open to him. The trial court therefore did not err by denying the petition.
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