"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."
"In one case, a 4-3 majority determined that prior gang-related charges did not hold up under new legal standards and thus could not be used as strikes. 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."
Two California Supreme Court decisions applied a 2021 law that raised the evidentiary standard for proving criminal street gang activity to past convictions. One ruling removed an incarcerated person from Death Row; the other vacated 2015 gang enhancement convictions that had been used as strikes against Larry Fletcher and Eric Anthony Taylor Jr. because those convictions were still under appeal when the 2021 law took effect. A 4-3 majority remanded the matter to the trial court to potentially retry the prior convictions under the redefined gang-offense elements. Both rulings were split, signaling disagreement about retroactive application. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero dissented, warning that applying the gang enhancement law to past strikes would set a legal standard virtually impossible to meet.
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