In People v. McKenzie, the Supreme Court today retroactively applies a statutory elimination of certain drug-related sentence enhancements. The defendant had initially been subject to the enhancements when he pleaded guilty, had his sentences suspended, and been placed on probation, but the enhancements weren’t imposed until his probation was revoked and he was sentenced to prison two years later. He challenged the enhancements on appeal from the parole revocation and sentence, but the Attorney General claimed that was too late.
Under Supreme Court case law, the defendant could take advantage of the ameliorative statutory amendment if the change took effect before his “judgment of conviction bec[ame] final.” The Attorney General argued finality occurred when the defendant didn’t appeal the initial order granting probation. The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Ming Chin, however, holds that “there is no ‘judgment of conviction’ without a sentence” and thus there hadn’t yet been finality when the amendment became effective during the pendency of the defendant’s appeal from the probation revocation and sentence.
The court affirms the Fifth District Court of Appeal.