Cal.Sup.Ct.;
S223825

The California Supreme Court affirmed judgments of the court of appeal. The court held that Proposition 47's definition of “unreasonable risk of danger to public safety” does not apply to resentencing proceedings under the Three Strikes Reform Act.

In 2009 David Valencia was convicted of felony spousal abuse. He was sentenced as a third strike offender to a prison term of 25 years to life. Following enactment of the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012, Valencia filed a petition for recall of sentence. The trial court denied the petition, finding Valencia's release would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety. Valencia appealed, arguing that the standard of dangerousness enunciated in Proposition 47, also known as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” which took effect November 5, 2014, was applicable retroactively to his petition for recall of sentence and barred the trial court from denying his petition absent a finding of risk that he would commit one of several specific violent offenses enumerated therein. The court of appeal rejected Valencia's argument, holding that Prop 47 did not amend the Reform Act.