How have courts treated a defendant's claim for equal protection under the equal protection clause?

Lastly, defendant argues that his sentence is improper, because a fellow inmate committed a similar crime (presumably, absconded from jail) but received a lesser punishment. This argument lacks a legal basis. That another inmate received a lesser punishment for committing the same crime is not cognizable as an argument that defendant was denied equal protection of the law. " ' "The first prerequisite to a meritorious claim under the equal protection clause is a showing that the state has adopted a classification that affects two or more similarly situated groups in an unequal manner." ' " (People v. Dial (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 1116, 1120.)

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