California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Velez, B262296 (Cal. App. 2015):
2. The petition was also denominated a "Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus." The greater part of the petition was addressed to defendant's claim that two of his strikes arose from "a single act against a single victim" and so one of them should be dismissed under People v. Vargas (2014) 59 Cal.4th 635, 638-639 (because the defendant's two prior felony convictions for robbery and carjacking were based on the same act, committed at the same time and against the same victim, "the trial court should have dismissed one of them and sentenced defendant as if she had only one, not two, qualifying strike convictions"). Defendant contended the trial court could "resolve this issue by merely recalling [defendant's] sentence and resentencing [defendant] as a two striker on his current offense of property crimes." Defendant's petition also claimed in a second ground for relief that his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective in failing to raise this issue at his sentencing and on appeal. The trial court dismissed these claims without prejudice, stating that those issues in defendant's petition, "particularly as it relates to his claims pursuant to People v. Vargas . . . need to be submitted in a separate Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the original sentencing court."
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