CA Court Rejects Sentence Reduction Law

California’s Second District Court of Appeal has held a 2021 law (SB 567) signed last October by Governor Newsom, cannot require a judge to re-sentence an offender to a lower term.  The Metropolitan News Enterprise reports that the new law required trial courts to sentence a defendant to the the lower term if he/she “has experienced psychological, physical or childhood trauma,” that contributed to the commission of the offense.  The case involved the 2021 conviction of habitual felon Norman Salazar for confining his ex-girlfriend in a motel room and beating and torturing her for nearly twenty hours.  When Salazar took her to her bank to withdraw $3,000, the victim lifted her sunglasses to show the teller her black eye.  The teller called the police and Salazar was arrested.

Because of his prior felonies, the trial court sentenced Salazar to the middle term of seven years and four months.  Earlier this year, when SB 567 took effect, Salazar appealed his sentence arguing that the new law required that he be sentenced to the lower term, and that his difficult childhood contributed to his torture of his ex-girlfriend.  The court of appeals rejected this argument.  The majority opinion held that the California Constitution “declares that there is to be no reversal (of sentence) unless the appellate court shall be of the opinion that the error complained of has resulted in a miscarriage of justice….There should only be a reversal where it is reasonably probable that a more favorable outcome will result upon reversal…By its enactment of SB 567, the Legislature did not purport to, and could not, by statute, alter the California Constitution.”

The decision will likely be appealed.