In re Nguyen (Cal. Ct. App., Nov. 27, 2024, No. B329158) 2024 WL 4901809, at *1
Summary: Nguyen was sentenced to an indeterminate prison term with the possibility of parole. Penal Code section 3046 establishes a minimum eligible parole date (MEPD) for when that hearing will occur. Additionally, because Nguyen was under 26 years of age when he committed his crimes, Nguyen is entitled to a youth offender parole hearing, and Penal Code section 3051 establishes a youth parole eligible date (YPED) for when that hearing will occur. Nguyen thus has two parole hearing dates, one set by the MEPD and the other by the YPED. Per California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (the department) regulations, Nguyen can earn good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, educational merit credit, and extraordinary conduct credit to bring forward his MEPD. However, those same regulations provide that only educational merit credit can bring forward his YPED; good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, and extraordinary conduct credit do not impact a youth inmate’s YPED.
Nguyen petitioned for review in the California Supreme Court, it granted review, and the court ordered the Court of Appeal to issue an order to show cause.
The Court of Appeal held that Nguyen failed to establish either that the department’s regulations impact similarly situated groups or that there is no rational basis for any disparate treatment. Nguyen’s right to equal protection has not been violated.
Overview of parole eligibility dates and credits
Inmates serving an indeterminate life sentence with the possibility of parole are eligible for parole. (Pen. Code, §§ 3041, 3046.) Penal Code section 3046 sets a MEPD sentenced to life in prison. The MEPD applies to inmates regardless of age. But inmates like Nguyen who committed their controlling offenses when they were 25 years old or younger are eligible for an additional parole hearing: a youth offender parole hearing under Penal Code section 3051. A youth offender is eligible for parole after 15 years if sentenced to a determinate term (Pen. Code, § 3051, subd. (b)(1)), after 20 years if sentenced to an indeterminate life term of fewer than 25 years to life (id., subd. (b)(2)), and after 25 years if sentenced to an indeterminate life term of 25 years to life, or to life without parole for a crime committed before the age of 18. The YPED does not replace the MEPD but is in addition to it. A youth offender who is not released after a youth offender parole hearing is still entitled to a parole hearing set by the MEPD.
In 2016, voters enacted Proposition 57, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, which the department “authority to award credits earned for good behavior and approved rehabilitative or educational achievements.” The department enacted regulations giving incarcerated persons the ability to earn good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, educational merit credit, and extraordinary conduct credit. These credits advance an incarcerated person’s initial parole hearing date, or MEPD, if the person has been sentenced to an indeterminate term with the possibility of parole. Credits are subject to forfeiture. The Legislature gave youth offenders a similar opportunity to earn credit against their YPED. In 2020, the Legislature added subdivision (j) to Penal Code section 3051. That subdivision provides that the department may authorize youth offenders to “obtain an earlier” YPED “by adopting regulations pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 32 of Article 1 of the California Constitution.”8 (Pen. Code, § 3051, subd. (j).) The department authorized educational merit credit to “advance an incarcerated person’s” YPED. (§§ 3043, subd. (f), 3043.5.) However, good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, and extraordinary conduct credit expressly “shall not advance an incarcerated person’s” YPED. (§ 3043, subd. (f).)
So, good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, educational merit credit, and extraordinary conduct credit advance an inmate’s MEPD. But only educational merit credit advances an inmate’s YPED.
Principles of equal protection
No state may “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” under the federal constitution’s equal protection clause. (U.S. Const., 14th Amend.) The equal protection clause requires that all similarly situated persons be treated alike. But, equal protection does not mean “that different things must be treated as though they are the same.” Whether the groups are similarly situated for purposes of the challenged law is critical, not whether they are similarly situated for all purposes. If the groups are not similarly situated, then there is no equal protection violation.
In cases involving challenges to classifications appearing on the face of the law, the “only pertinent inquiry is whether the challenged difference in treatment is adequately justified under the applicable standard of review.
If the groups are similarly situated in all material respects, then the second inquiry is whether the challenged classification is justified, utilizing the appropriate standard of review. (Hardin, supra, 15 Cal.5th at p. 848.) Here, the challenged classification does not involve a suspect classification based on, for example, race or gender, we apply a rational basis review, sustaining the classification if it is rationally related to a legitimate state interest. Only if there is no rational relationship between a disparity in treatment and some legitimate government purpose will an equal protection violation be found. (People v. Turnage (2012) 55 Cal.4th 62, 74, 144.)
The party challenging the law has the burden of showing that the challenged difference in treatment is not adequately justified under the applicable standard of review. (Hardin, supra, 15 Cal.5th at p. 851.)
Here, the two groups here are not similarly situated. Youth offenders therefore have two parole eligibility dates, a MEPD under Penal Code section 3041 and a YPED under Penal Code section 3051. The YPED typically is earlier than the MEPD, and a youth offender who is not granted parole at a youth offender parole hearing gets another opportunity for parole at a parole hearing under the MEPD. In contrast, nonyouth offenders who committed their crimes when they were 26 years of age or older have just one parole eligibility date, a MEPD under Penal Code section 3041.
Rational basis for not awarding credits toward YPED
Penal Code section 3051 established a parole eligibility for a person serving a sentence for crimes committed as a juvenile or youth under the age of 26. The Legislature was motivated by concerns about lengthy life sentences inadequately accounting for diminished culpability of juvenile and youth offenders and their greater potential for rehabilitation and maturation. Penal Code section 3051 reflects the law’s understanding of these differences between juveniles and youth offendersand nonyouth offenders and confers a significant benefit to youth offenders by affording them a fixed YPED based on the sentence for the controlling offense. In many instances, the YPED will occur significantly before the MEPD.
In determining that the YPED can be offset by only educational merit credit, which cannot be forfeited when applied to the YPED, the YPED remains relatively fixed. (§ 3043.5, subds. (f), (h).) This contrasts with good conduct credit, milestone completion credit, rehabilitative achievement credit, extraordinary conduct credit, and educational merit credit, all of which can be earned, forfeited, and restored when applied to the MEPD, thereby making the MEPD a fluctuating date.
Nguyen’s petition for writ of habeas corpus was denied.
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