Appeals Court Says No to Doubling Burglar’s Sentence

An appeals court recently overturned an Orange County Superior Court judge’s decision to double the length of a burglar’s prison sentence under the state’s three-strikes law.

Daniel Bocanegra had already been convicted of negligent discharge of a firearm when he was tried and convicted in a 1995 Tustin home burglary.

In the sentencing phase of the trial, Judge William R. Froeberg used the earlier weapons charge to double Bocanegra’s sentence to four years because he considered the burglary conviction a second strike.

In the opinion of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, the judge should not have considered Bocanegra’s weapons violation a first strike because it was not considered a serious felony by the judge who handled that case. That judge gave Bocanegra probation for the weapons offense.

The burglary conviction sentence was sent back to Orange County Superior Court for reconsideration.