Opinion
No. 1 CA-CR 13-0257 PRPC
11-25-2014
STATE OF ARIZONA, Respondent, v. JESUS O MERAZ-LEON, Petitioner.
COUNSEL Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix By Diane Meloche Counsel for Respondent Jesus O. Meraz-Leon, Florence Petitioner
NOTICE: NOT FOR PUBLICATION. UNDER ARIZONA RULE OF THE SUPREME COURT 111(c), THIS DECISION DOES NOT CREATE LEGAL PRECEDENT AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS AUTHORIZED. Petition for Review from the Superior Court in Maricopa County
No. CR0000-118066 CR0000-149150 CR0000-151171
The Honorable Jo Lynn Gentry, Judge
REVIEW GRANTED; RELIEF DENIED
COUNSEL Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix
By Diane Meloche
Counsel for Respondent
Jesus O. Meraz-Leon, Florence
Petitioner
MEMORANDUM DECISION
Judge Maurice Portley delivered the decision of the Court, in which Presiding Judge Patricia A. Orozco and Judge Randall M. Howe joined. PORTLEY, Judge:
¶1 Petitioner Jesus O. Meraz-Leon petitions this court for review from the dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. He contends that he is being held beyond the expiration of his sentence. After considering his petition, the trial court's ruling and the record, for the reasons stated, we grant review, but deny relief.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
¶2 Meraz-Leon sought post-conviction relief in three separate matters. In the first case, Meraz-Leon pled no contest in 1981 to three counts of armed robbery. The trial court sentenced him to three concurrent terms of 10.5 years' imprisonment and we affirmed his convictions and sentences as modified on direct appeal. See State v. Lopez-Meraz, 1 CA-CR 5633 and 5634 (Ariz. App. May 25, 1982) (mem. decision).
¶3 Meraz-Leon was subsequently released from prison under "a treaty arrangement," and he was arrested, charged, tried, and a jury convicted him in 1985 of armed burglary (with three prior felony convictions), sexual assault, and attempted sexual assault, all dangerous offenses. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the armed burglary, a consecutive term of life imprisonment for sexual assault, and a concurrent term of twenty years' imprisonment for attempted sexual assault. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences on direct appeal. See State v. Meraz, 152 Ariz. 588, 734 P.2d 73 (1987).
¶4 The third case also occurred in 1985; Meraz-Leon was charged with two counts of second degree burglary, with one prior felony conviction. He pled no contest to one count of second degree burglary with a prior conviction and was sentenced to prison for 7.5 years, which was to be served concurrently with the sentences for the armed burglary and sexual offenses. We affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct appeal pursuant to Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967). See State v. Meraz, 1 CA-CR 9713 (Ariz. App. Aug. 5, 1986) (mem. decision).
¶5 Meraz-Leon now seeks review of the dismissal of the latest of his many successive petitions for post-conviction relief in all three cases. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.9(c).
DISCUSSION
¶6 Meraz-Leon argues the department of corrections is holding him beyond the expiration of his sentences. He asserts he should have been released in 2010 because a life sentence in Arizona is actually a sentence to a maximum of twenty-five years' imprisonment. We deny relief.
¶7 Meraz-Leon has not demonstrated that a life sentence in Arizona at the time he committed the offenses meant a maximum term of twenty-five years. And we are not aware of any authority for that proposition.
The statute cited by the trial court for each life imprisonment sentence was Arizona Revised Statutes section 13-604(N). At the time, subsection N provided that a person tried and convicted as an adult, who has two or more serious offenses "shall be sentenced to life imprisonment" and "is not eligible for suspension, commutation or release" until the person has served not less than twenty-five years." Consequently, Meraz-Leon is not eligible for consideration for release until he has served a minimum of fifty years in prison; twenty-five years for each consecutive life sentence.
¶8 But, even assuming for the sake of argument that a life sentence for a crime committed in 1985 meant a maximum sentence of twenty-five years, Meraz-Leon omits that he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences - one for the armed burglary and the other for sexual assault. Consequently, Meraz-Leon has not completed his second life imprisonment sentence and is not being held past any release date.
CONCLUSION
¶9 We grant review, but deny relief.