## Facts

- Jerry Garcia committed two first-degree residential burglaries in 1996.
- In one burglary, the victim returned to find the home ransacked and discovered a wallet containing Garcia’s driver’s license.
- In the other burglary, the victim saw Garcia leaving her driveway with her property; police apprehended him nearby with stolen items and jewelry.
- Garcia waived his Miranda rights and admitted both burglaries (and others).
- After a bench trial, Garcia was convicted of two counts of first-degree burglary.
- The court found true that Garcia had five prior serious felony burglary convictions qualifying as “strikes” under the Three Strikes law and three prior prison terms.
- At sentencing, the trial court imposed a Three Strikes term on one count (25 years to life plus a consecutive five-year serious-felony enhancement) but, under Penal Code § 1385(a), struck the strike allegations as to the other count and imposed a consecutive 16-month term, for an aggregate sentence of 31 years 4 months to life.
- The Court of Appeal reversed for resentencing, concluding the sentence was unauthorized because strikes could not be dismissed as to only one count.

## Issues

1. Whether Penal Code § 1385(a) permits a trial court applying the Three Strikes law to dismiss prior strike allegations as to one count but not another in the same case.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by striking the strike allegations for one burglary count while imposing a Three Strikes sentence on the other.

## Decision

- The California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and reinstated the trial court’s sentence.
- The court held that § 1385(a) authorizes dismissal of a prior conviction allegation “in furtherance of justice” on a count-by-count basis.
- The court concluded the Three Strikes statutes do not require an all-or-nothing application of strike priors to every current count.
- The court held the sentencing court did not abuse its discretion in striking the strike allegations as to one count while retaining them as to the other.

## Legal Principles

- Penal Code § 1385(a) permits a court, in furtherance of justice, to dismiss a prior conviction allegation as applied to a particular count; the discretion may be exercised for some counts and not others.
- The Three Strikes law does not categorically eliminate § 1385(a) authority to dismiss strike allegations; the statutes are read together.
- Review of a decision to strike (or not strike) prior conviction allegations is for abuse of discretion, considering the defendant’s background and prospects, the nature and circumstances of the current offenses, and the defendant’s prior serious or violent felony convictions.
- A sentence is not “unauthorized” merely because the court imposes Three Strikes treatment on one count and dismisses strike allegations on another count in the same case.

## Conclusion

The court held that, when sentencing under the Three Strikes law, a trial judge may dismiss strike prior allegations under Penal Code § 1385(a) as to one count but not another, and it upheld the mixed sentence imposed for Garcia’s two burglary convictions.


People v. Garcia, 20 Cal. 4th 490, 976 P.2d 831 (Cal. 1999)