People v. Cates

Opinion

SIMONS, J.

In October 2006, appellant Christopher Shane Cates was placed on probation after pleading no contest to a felonious assault on his former girlfriend. In March 2008, the trial court modified that probation, ordering appellant to attend and complete a 52-week batterer’s counseling program, even though he was performing satisfactorily at the time of the modification. The court reasoned that Penal Code section 1203.097 1 mandates imposition of the challenged condition, and the failure to impose it when probation was originally ordered in 2006 resulted in an unauthorized sentence…