California v. Superior Court of San Diego County (Jesus Romero, Real Party in Interest)

917 P.2d 628 (1996)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
C
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

California v. Superior Court of San Diego County (Jesus Romero, Real Party in Interest)

California Supreme Court
917 P.2d 628 (1996)

  • Written by Liz Nakamura, JD

Facts

Jesus Romero (defendant) was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance. The information filed by the district attorney (plaintiff) alleged that Romero had been convicted of two prior serious felonies, which subjected Romero to a life sentence under California’s three-strikes law. Romero pled not guilty. At the sentencing hearing, partially in exchange for Romero entering a guilty plea, the superior court (defendant), California’s trial-level court, struck Romero’s prior-felony-conviction allegations, thereby allowing the court to sentence Romero without applying the three-strikes law. The superior court imposed a sentence of six years, the top end of the range for Romero’s current felony charge. The district attorney appealed and sought a writ of mandate requiring the superior court to resentence Romero under the three-strikes law, arguing that the superior court could not strike prior-felony-conviction allegations in a three-strikes case absent a motion by the prosecution. The appellate court agreed and reversed, holding that the superior court could not modify sentencing in a three-strikes case on the court’s own motion. The superior court appealed to the California Supreme Court.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Werdegar, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 810,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Corrections and Sentencing

Key Terms