California (10.18.2004)

In People v. Williams, S110377, the Supreme Court of California held that where a defendant is sentenced in two different cases under the three strikes law, the trial court can add enhancements for prior serious felony convictions to each sentence for a new serious felony conviction. The defendant in this case was sentenced on the same day for two separate crimes and the trial court added enhancements to both sentences, based on the defendant's two prior felony convictions. In affirming the sentence, the high court stated that adding enhancements in both cases is “not inconsistent” with the voter’s intent “to increase sentences for recidivist offenders.” “The Three Strikes law,” the court said, “does not draw any distinction between status enhancements, based on the defendant’s record, and enhancements based on the circumstances of the current offenses, and the Three Strikes law generally discloses an intent to use the fact of recidivism to separately increase the sentence imposed for each new offense.”

While we’re on the subject of California’s three strikes law, note that Proposition 66 on the November ballot attempts to limit second and third strikes to serious or violent felonies. SoCalLawBlog and Legal Reader have excellent discussions of the proposed changes here and here.