Zepeda v. Superior Court City & County of San Francisco
Annotate this Case
Senate Bill 567 amended Penal Code section 1170(b)(2) to provide that when a statute specifies three possible terms of imprisonment, the court cannot impose a sentence exceeding the middle term unless it finds that a longer sentence is justified by “circumstances in aggravation of the crime” and “the facts underlying those circumstances” have been stipulated to by the defendant or have been found true beyond a reasonable doubt by the jury at trial. Before SB 567, trial judges had discretion to impose the lower, middle, or upper term of imprisonment based on their own assessment of which term best served the interests of justice, without making any factual findings.
The court of appeal upheld a trial court order allowing the prosecution to amend an information to allege aggravating factors against a criminal defendant. Section 1170(b)(2)'s phrase “circumstances in aggravation” refers to the factors listed in California Rules of Court, 4.421; the Legislature has not violated the separation of powers by that delegation. The use of qualitative terms and the requirement that an aggravating circumstance make the commission of the offense distinctively worse does not render rule 4.421's factors unconstitutionally vague. The factual allegations supporting the aggravating circumstances do not need to be supported by evidence at the preliminary hearing.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.