People v. Hurlic

A certificate of probable cause is not required where the defendant's challenge to the agreed-upon sentence is based on the Legislature's enactment of a statute that retroactively grants a trial court the discretion to waive a sentencing enhancement that was mandatory at the time it was incorporated into the agreed-upon sentence. In this case, defendant argued that he was entitled to ask the trial court to exercise its newfound discretion to strike the 20-year firearm enhancement. The Court of Appeal held that it was unable to say that there was no reasonable possibility that the trial court would decline to exercise its newfound sentencing discretion. Therefore, the court vacated the judgment and remanded for a new sentencing hearing to decide whether to exercise that discretion. View "People v. Hurlic" on Justia Law