"The California Supreme Court handed down two decisions last week that could impact decades of sentencing for gang-related offenses and allow thousands of people to petition courts to reexamine their cases. Both rulings turned on a 2021 law that raised the standard of evidence for proving that someone broke a law as part of "criminal street gang activity." In different ways, the Supreme Court chose to apply the new standard to past convictions."
"Larry Fletcher and Eric Anthony Taylor Jr. argued that 2015 gang enhancement convictions could not be applied as "strikes" toward a three-strikes sentence for a 2020 attempted murder, as their convictions were still under appeal when the 2021 law went into effect. The California Supreme Court ultimately agreed and vacated the 2015 prior convictions as gang-related and therefore offenses that no longer counted as a "strike" - remanding the trial court to potentially retry them under the new law's redefined elements of gang offenses and enhancements."
"It remains unclear exactly how far the Fletcher and Taylor decision will set precedent for other individuals looking to reverse life sentences under the "three strikes" law. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero dissented from the decision. She warned that applying the gang enhancement law to past strikes would set a legal standard that would be "virtually impossible to meet". She admonished her fellow justices for invoking &q"
Two California Supreme Court decisions applied a 2021 law that raised the evidentiary standard for proving criminal street gang activity to past convictions. One decision removed an incarcerated person from Death Row; the other vacated 2015 gang enhancement convictions for Larry Fletcher and Eric Anthony Taylor Jr., finding those convictions could not be used as "strikes." The court remanded the cases so the trial court could retry the prior convictions under the redefined elements of gang offenses and enhancements. Both rulings were split decisions, leaving uncertainty about how broadly they will allow people to challenge prior sentences.
Read at The Mercury News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]