Noting that a certified abstract of judgment "constitutes the commitment" and serves as "the process and authority for carrying the judgment and sentence into effect"
Holding that a trial court's discretion under Cal.Penal Code § 17(b) to reduce a "wobbler" offense is not eliminated by the Three Strikes law but is reviewable
510 U.S. 332 (1994) Cited 226 times 3 Legal Analyses
Holding railroads could not challenge as discriminatory a generally applicable property tax to which some non-railroad property, but not railroad property, was exempted
Holding that the statute did not extend to cover remedies that were “different in kind from the enumerated remedies,” because “ more reasonable reading of the phrase ‘including, but not limited to,’ ... permitting only additional corrective remedies comports with the statutory construction doctrines of ejusdem generis, expressio unius est exclusio alterius and noscitur a sociis.”
Allowing courts to look to the entire record of conviction to determine whether the out-of-state conduct constitutes a "serious felony" under Three Strikes
Rejecting district attorney's argument that "the Legislature's use of the word ‘defendant’ rather than ‘petitioner’ in section 1054.9," demonstrated that the Legislature was not "creat[ing] discovery in a separate habeas corpus matter"
Holding that defendant should have received a single life sentence—as opposed to three consecutive sentences—for vaginally and anally raping victim and forcing her to orally copulate him in the backseat of a car during the span of one-and-a-half hours