People v. Lewis – 8/20/2014

People v. Lewis

No. E058643 (opn 8/20/2014, rev den 11/12/2014)

Year: 2014
Errors:
Law: Error/Misstatement
Court: 
4th District, Division 2
Errors Found/Argued:
Errors not found by another court

Summary: People’s appeal from order granting relief on petition to reduce 3 Strikes term to 2 and releasing appellant due to time served. Contrary to both the substantial evidence rule and the requirement that the appellant produce an adequate record on appeal, the appellate court reversed and remanded for new hearing to see if the prosecution could produce additional evidence re possession of firearm. Specifically, the Court’s summary was: “This is plaintiff and appellant the People’s appeal from the superior court’s order granting defendant and respondent Anthony Lee Lewis’s petition for recall of sentence under Proposition 36 (Pen. Code, § 1170.126). The People argue defendant was ‘armed’ with a firearm during the commission of the commitment offense—being a felon in possession of a firearm (former § 12021, subd. (a)(1))—and thus was ineligible for resentencing. As discussed below, the record on appeal does not contain the accusatory pleading or the trial transcript, and so we cannot determine with certainty whether the conviction was based on defendant being armed with the firearm he was convicted of possessing. For this reason, we reverse and remand with directions to allow the trial court to examine the evidence adduced at trial to determine and state on the record whether the prosecution’s case was based on the theory that defendant was guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon because he had possession of a firearm that was capable of offensive or defensive use. The trial court shall then act on defendant’s resentencing petition in a manner consistent with this opinion.”

Document Links:
Opinion (Google Scholar)
Opinion (PDF)
Petition for Rehearing (PDF)
Petition for Review (PDF)