California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from The People v. Juarez, B219161, No. PA055448 (Cal. App. 2010):
Although defendant's convictions of rape, oral copulation, assault with a deadly weapon, and robbery occurred many years before the present offense, they all involved violence. Defendant had not led a blameless life since the 1989 robbery convictions. Rather, since that time, he was convicted of soliciting drugs for sale in 1996, failing to register as a sex offender in 1999, and driving under the influence in 2002. Also, as the trial court found, the present crime was a serious and threatening offense. Defendant sought out and robbed a young victim late at night using what appeared to the victim to be a gun. (Compare with People v. Garcia (1999) 20 Cal.4th 490, 503 [appropriate to strike prior where the defendant had been given lengthy sentence, the priors arose from a single period of aberrant behavior, the defendant cooperated with police, the priors related to drug addiction and did not involve violence].)
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.