People v. Valenzuela
People v. Valenzuela
Opinion
*451 The crime of "street terrorism" requires, inter alia, that a person actively participate in criminal street gang activity and willfully promote, further or assist in *861 any felonious criminal conduct of the gang. (Pen. Code, § 186.22, subd. (a).) 1 The enhancement for the commission of a felony for the benefit of a criminal street gang requires that the underlying crime be a felony. ( Id. , subd. (b)(1).) Here we resolve an unanticipated consequence of the passage of Proposition 47, i.e., whether a conviction for street terrorism survives after a felony conviction that is based upon the same conduct has been reduced to a misdemeanor. We hold that it does survive because, unlike with a gang enhancement, a street terrorism conviction does not require a felony conviction; it requires only that the conduct that resulted in the conviction was felonious at the time it was committed. We therefore affirm the trial court's order denying resentencing on Luis Donicio Valenzuela's street terrorism conviction.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2
In 2013, Valenzuela stole a $200 bicycle from "the person" of the victim and was convicted of grand theft. (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (c).) In addition, an enhancement of having committed that crime for the benefit of a gang was found to be true. (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1).) Valenzuela was also convicted of street terrorism ( id ., subd. (a)), and sentenced to an aggregate term of nine years eight months in prison.
At the time Valenzuela stole the bicycle, taking property from the person of another was classified as grand theft, irrespective of the property's value. Following the passage of section 1170.18 (Proposition 47) by voter initiative in November 2014, theft of money or property worth $950 or less, even if taken directly from another person, is "considered petty theft and ... punished as a misdemeanor." (§ 490.2, subd. (a).)
After Proposition 47 took effect, Valenzuela successfully petitioned the trial court to reclassify his theft conviction as a misdemeanor. The effect of *452 doing so precluded attachment of the gang enhancement to that count. The trial court, however, denied his motion to dismiss the street terrorism conviction, finding that the reclassification of his theft conviction as a misdemeanor did not affect that count.
Valenzuela's appeal concerns the difference between a gang enhancement, which requires a felony conviction (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1) ), and a street terrorism conviction, which requires both the active participation in a criminal street gang and the willful promotion of "felonious criminal conduct" by gang members. ( Id. , subd. (a).) As we shall explain, the street terrorism conviction did not require a felony conviction; it required only that Valenzuela's conduct (which resulted in the grand theft conviction) was felonious at the time he engaged in it .
DISCUSSION
Valenzuela claims the trial court "failed to treat [his] resentencing as a plenary sentencing which required the court to take into account [his grand theft conviction's] reduction to a misdemeanor when resentencing on [the street terrorism conviction]." But the trial court did treat the resentencing as a plenary sentencing. It resentenced him to a misdemeanor on the grand theft count and struck the enhancements *862 on that count-including the gang enhancement-that did not apply to a misdemeanor conviction. Valenzuela does not argue that his modified sentence on the street terrorism count was unauthorized for a valid conviction; he contends that the street terrorism conviction itself was invalid after the theft conviction became a misdemeanor. We disagree.
"The gravamen of the [street terrorism offense] is active participation in a criminal street gang." (
People v. Albillar
(2010)
Grand theft is generally a "wobbler" (
People v. Ceja
(2010)
When Valenzuela stole the bicycle, he engaged in felonious criminal conduct. That is true regardless of his conviction for grand theft and its subsequent reduction to a misdemeanor. The trial court properly declined to set aside his conviction for street terrorism.
DISPOSITION
The order denying Proposition 47 resentencing on Valenzuela's street terrorism conviction is affirmed.
We concur:
YEGAN, Acting P.J.
TANGEMAN, J.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.