California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Sanchez, H042713 (Cal. App. 2018):
have exercised its discretion to lessen the length of defendant's sentence. Though the trial court found that the present case was not appropriate for probation, we cannot presume that it would not have stricken or dismissed the firearm enhancement under the amended statute. "Defendants are entitled to sentencing decisions made in the exercise of the 'informed discretion' of the sentencing court. [Citations.] A court which is unaware of the scope of its discretionary powers can no more exercise that 'informed discretion' than one whose sentence is or may have been based on misinformation regarding a material aspect of a defendant's record. [Citation.]" (People v. Belmontes (1983) 34 Cal.3d 335, 348, fn. 8.) Accordingly, we remand the matter for the trial court to consider whether to exercise its discretion under section 12022.5, subdivision (c).
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