# People v. Kelii

> California Supreme Court · August 19, 1999 · 87 Cal. Rptr. 2d 674

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542456

## Case

- **Full name:** The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. LESTER KELII, Defendant and Appellant
- **Court:** California Supreme Court
- **Decided:** August 19, 1999
- **Citations:** 87 Cal. Rptr. 2d 674; 21 Cal. 4th 452; 99 Daily Journal DAR 8561; 981 P.2d 518; 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 6709; 1999 Cal. LEXIS 5311
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Kennard
- **Judges:** Chin, Werdegar, Kennard
- **Cited by:** 60 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542456

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- concluding that the trial court determines whether a previous conviction qualifies as a "strike" for purposes of California's Three Strikes law and that it "may look to the entire record of the [prior] conviction, but no further" (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted)

## Opinion text

KENNARD, J.
I dissent.
For the reasons stated in Justice Werdegar’s concurring and dissenting opinion in this case, and previously expressed in her dissenting opinion in People v. Wiley (1995) 9 Cal.4th 580, 595-605 [ 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 347 , 889 P.2d 541 ], which I joined, defendant has a right to a jury trial on the issue of whether his prior convictions were for serious felonies. Thus, in precluding the jury from determining that issue, the trial court here erred. Unlike Justice Werdegar, however, I do not consider the error to be harmless. As I explained in my dissenting opinion in People v. Vera (1997) 15 Cal.4th 269, 282-286 [ 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 754 , 934 P.2d 1279 ] (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.)), “[t]he denial of jury trial is a structural error that can never be harmless, no matter how strong the evidence of guilt.” (Id. at p. 286.)
Mosk, J., concurred.
Respondent’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 29, 1999.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542456. Public record. Not legal advice.