People v. Mitchell
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Mitchell was doing donuts in a parking lot and tried to hit people with her car. An officer activated his lights and siren to pursue Mitchell. Mitchell sped up and drove through a red light; she made a U-turn and drove directly toward the officer’s vehicle. When Mitchell was finally arrested, her blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.183 percent. Mitchell, charged with multiple counts, had a prior strike conviction for second-degree robbery. Mitchell pleaded no contest to reckless driving while evading a peace officer and to driving with a BAC of .08 percent or more and admitted to the strike allegation. The plea agreement included a sentence of six years imprisonment--the upper term of three years, doubled due to the strike. The court ordered that Mitchell pay restitution and fines. Mitchell’s counsel did not object.
The court of appeal affirmed, rejecting a challenge based on Senate Bill 567 (effective January 1, 2022), which limits a court’s ability to impose upper-term sentences absent a stipulation by the defendant or a finding of aggravating circumstances at trial. Where there is a stipulated plea, there is no occasion for the court to find aggravating facts to justify the imposition of an upper term. Any concern that a defendant’s Sixth Amendment rights are violated when aggravating facts are not found by a jury does not exist. The court also rejected Mitchell’s ineffective assistance of counsel challenge to the fines.
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