State Supreme Court reverses conviction based on defendant’s gang affiliation

The state Supreme Court Monday reversed a "street terrorism" conviction after the alleged gang member's underlying conviction for stealing a bicycle was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor under Proposition 47.

In her opinion, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote that Luis Valenzuela was entitled to have his street terrorism conviction dismissed under the 2014 proposition, which reclassified several felony drug and theft offenses as misdemeanors. People v. Valenzuela, 2019 DJDAR 4788 (Cal. June 3, 2019).

"The reduction of defendant's grand theft conviction to a misdemeanor ... established the absence of an essential element of the street terrorism offense -- felonious criminal conduct," the chief justice wrote.

Without the felony, Valenzuela could not be "resentenced for the street terrorism offense," wrote Cantil-Sakauye. "It follows that the street terrorism charge should have been dismissed at defendant's full resentencing."

The ruling drew dissents from Justices Carol A. Corrigan and Leondra R. Kruger, who both argued Valenzuela's crime, whether a felony or misdemeanor, was part of larger criminal activity involving his gang affiliation.

"Defendant's street terrorism went beyond the mere commission of theft," Corrigan wrote in her dissenting opinion. "The jury necessarily found that defendant acted with a fellow gang member and committed their offense to promote their gang."

Corrigan also wrote the dismissal clashes with the 1988 Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, or STEP, meant to crack down on gang-related crimes.

"The majority's treatment of defendant's street terrorism offense as nothing but a form of theft is at odds with [STEP] and with Proposition 47, which was enacted to grant relief to those convicted of nonserious theft and drug offenses," Corrigan wrote.

Kruger's opinion expressed concern that the proposition can be used to retroactively relieve offenders of all liability, particularly those whose cases have yet to be finalized, such as Valenzuela's.

Valenzuela was convicted of felony grand theft in 2014 for stealing a $200 bicycle prior to the proposition's passing in Ventura County Superior Court, court documents show. Prosecutors added the street terrorism charge alleging "the defendant committed the felony grand theft offense for the benefit of a criminal street gang."

Valenzuela's case was up for appeal when the measure passed, dropping any theft less than $950 to misdemeanor petty theft, court documents show.

Originally sentenced to more than nine years in prison, Valenzuela's public defenders petitioned the court to reclassify the theft conviction, dismiss the street terrorism conviction and resentence him.

The court reclassified the theft to a misdemeanor, but kept the street terrorism conviction and resentenced him to seven years and eight months, according to court records. The 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the resentencing.

In writing the majority opinion, Cantil-Sakauye cited In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal. 2d 740, 745, which allows for reconsideration for "cases with nonfinal judgments" when new measures are passed.

But Valenzuela's attorney's never argued Estrada, Kruger wrote. "It has not been presented to us. As a consequence, neither the parties nor the courts have ever grappled with the implications of adopting a rule that would regard Proposition 47 as retroactively invalidating convictions that ... depend in some way on a showing that the defendant committed conduct punishable as a felony."

While Valenzuela has already served his sentence, the decision does take two felony strikes off his record, said William Quest, senior deputy public defender for Ventura County, who represented Valenzuela in both the Supreme Court and appellate court cases.

"We're very pleased with the decision," Quest said. "This is more of the Supreme Court interpreting Prop 47 in the appropriate manner to give as much relief as possible to as many people as possible who deserve it."