People v. Galvez

Opinion

YEGAN, J.

The Legislature has the exclusive power to define crime and prescribe punishment. It has recently focused on criminal street gangs, dramatically increasing punishment for certain felonies committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, the gang. For example, ordinary attempted witness dissuasion is a “wobbler,” i.e., punishment by up to one year in county jail as a misdemeanor or in state prison for 16 months, two years, or three years. (Pen. Code, §§ 136.1, subd. (b), 18.)1 When committed in the criminal street gang context, the punishment is…