People v. Kim

*1358Opinion

RUSHING, P. J.

In what might serve as a monument to our “Byzantine” sentencing law (People v. Velasquez (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 503, 505 [81 Cal.Rptr.2d 647]), we are called upon to decide how many lifetimes a defendant can be sentenced to spend in prison based upon a plea agreement calling for him to spend only one. We hold that where a criminal defendant enters a guilty plea on the understanding that he will serve one lifetime in prison, he cannot be sentenced to serve two or more lifetimes without first being given an opportunity to withdraw his plea. Because defendant Somnang Kim was…