BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 905|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 905
Author: Knight (R)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 3/25/14
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, De Le�n, Knight, Liu, Mitchell,
Steinberg
SUBJECT : Assault: force likely to produce great bodily
injury
SOURCE : California District Attorneys Association
DIGEST : This bill places the crimes of assault with a deadly
weapon by a prison inmate and assault by a prison inmate by
means of force likely to produce great bodily injury in two
separate subdivisions of Penal Code (PEN) Section 4501.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides that any state prison inmate who assaults another
with a deadly weapon or instrument, or who assaults another
by means of force likely to produce bodily injury, is guilty
of a felony, punishable by a consecutive term of two, four or
six years in prison. (PEN Section 4501.)
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2. Provides that if a defendant is convicted of a felony offense
and the defendant has previously been convicted of two or
more serious or violent offenses, as specified, the court
shall impose an indeterminate term of life in prison with the
minimum term of 25 years. Where the defendant has a single
serious prior serious or violent felony, the court shall
double the defendant's prison term.
3. Provides that a defendant convicted of a serious felony shall
receive a five-year sentence enhancement for each prior
serious felony conviction.
4. Provides that assault with a deadly weapon by a prison inmate
is a serious felony.
This bill reorganizes PEN Section 4501 by defining two separate
forms of assault by a prison inmate:
1. Assault by a prison inmate by means of force likely to
produce great bodily injury.
2. Assault with a deadly weapon by a prison inmate.
Comments
According to the author's office, PEN Section 4501 deals with
assaults committed by prison inmates. The section currently
contains one paragraph that covers both the crimes of assault on
a person with a deadly weapon and assault by means of force
likely to produce great bodily injury. Under California law,
assault with a deadly weapon is a serious felony and thus a
strike under the Three Strikes law, while an assault by force is
not. Because PEN Section 4501 does include separate
subdivisions for each form of assault, prosecutors, defense
attorneys and judges often cannot efficiently determine whether
a defendant's prior prison assault conviction constitutes a
serious felony.
When the prosecutor files criminal charges, he/she reviews the
defendant's criminal history to determine if the defendant has
any prior convictions that can or must be alleged to support
enhanced sentencing. Both Consolidated Criminal History
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Reporting System (CCHRS) and Criminal Investigation
Identification (CII) (databases that contain arrest and
conviction information) list prior convictions by code section.
Prosecutors see "PEN Section 4501" on a defendant's rap sheet,
not knowing if it qualifies as a serious felony or not. While
the rap sheet often includes some description of the offense,
that provides no certainty, as the descriptions often refer to
both forms of assault.
If a prosecutor cannot determine the specific form of a
defendant's prior prison assault conviction from criminal
history databases, the defendant could be incorrectly charged
with a strike allegation. This clogs the court system with
cases that cannot be settled at an early date because the nature
of the prior conviction cannot be determined until the date of
trial, when a transcript, minute order, or California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation record is obtained.
In 2011 Governor Brown signed AB 1026 (Knight, Chapter 183,
Statutes of 2011), which provided the same clarification to
crimes committed in the public sector (PEN Section 245). This
bill follows suit by making the same change to the corresponding
PEN, preventing the same confusion and court delays when a crime
occurs in a California state prison.
This bill does not create new felonies, nor does it expand the
punishment for any existing felonies. It merely splits PEN
Section 4501 into two subdivisions. Subdivision (a) will define
the serious felony of assault with a deadly weapon. Subdivision
(b) will define the non-serious felony of assault by force
likely to produce great bodily injury. These changes will make
assessment of prior PEN Section 4501 conviction much more
efficient, leading to more accurate and earlier dispositions of
criminal cases.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 3/26/14)
California District Attorneys Association (source)
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JG:d 3/26/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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