Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Court trials

Certain offenses are subject to sentencing enhancements which are basically charged in a criminal complaint or information. If a person is found guilty of the underlying offense then the sentencing enhancement will also have to be found true by the trier of fact. Even if the enhancements are found to be true, a Judge has the discretion to stay the sentence to be imposed under the enhancement. A Judge use to have the authority to "strike" (dismiss) the enhancement all together but that is no longer the case. However, the term "stricken" is still commonly used. It means that the Judge has chosen not to impose the additional prison term provided for under the enhancement.

Re: Court trials

An enhancement like ,1) a personal use enhancement or 2) gang enhancement or some other enhancement was stricken...meaning the judge felt that part of the case wasn't proven to his/her satisfaction and so he struck it and cannot be used against the defendant at sentencing. David Wallin at www.wallinlaw.com