NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — A man was sentenced Wednesday morning to three years in state prison after pleading guilty in Newport Beach court, despite requesting bail, which was denied by the presiding judge.
On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Judge Derek G. Johnson sentenced the man to three years in state prison for larceny and a wobbler offense. The bond was swiftly denied by Judge Johnson, and the accused was remanded.
The accused was present in court and in custody for alleged larceny involving theft under $950, as well as a wobbler offense of allegedly dissuading a witness after the fact. The larceny charge was the second on the accused’s record, occurring in November 2025, with the first offense occurring in November 2017.
Neither offense exceeded $950 of stolen goods and therefore did not reach felony status.
Explicit details were not provided during the pretrial hearing regarding the dissuasion of a witness. For the sentencing to legally meet the prison time requirements, the wobbler offense was presumably treated and pleaded to as a felony.
The accused entered into a guilty plea with the court, expecting to leave with a reduced sentence and bond as a result, as opposed to going to trial. However, after the plea was announced, Judge Johnson denied bail and sentenced the accused to three years in state prison, near the maximum sentence possible for the crime.
Deputy District Attorney Ellis and Deputy Public Defender Palasquez both remained silent during the sentencing, with the defense offering no objections to the judge’s decision, despite the appearance of a pretrial agreement being reached with the prosecution and the accused receiving an arguably harsh punishment for the crime.
Along with the prison time, the accused must also follow several demands from the court, including paying restitution, providing a DNA test and paying other mandatory fines as a result of the guilty plea. This is also a result of a second larceny conviction involving a 7-Eleven, with the first coming eight years prior in 2017.
Under California law, dissuading a witness under Penal Code section 136.1 is considered a wobbler offense, meaning it may be prosecuted as either a misdemeanor or a felony. When charged as a felony, the offense carries a potential sentence of 16 months, two years or three years in custody.
Meanwhile, theft of property valued under $950 is generally charged as a misdemeanor under California Penal Code sections 484 and 488, carrying a maximum sentence of six months in county jail.
With this being said, most three-year, nonviolent felony sentences in California are served in county jail under Penal Code section 1170(h), not state prison, which puts the decision to send the accused to state prison on the atypical side. The court record did not reflect whether the three-year term represented the upper term of the statutory triad or whether any prior conviction enhancements were involved, although only one prior misdemeanor conviction would be unlikely to greatly affect the decision.
As stated, the case concluded swiftly after the judge’s sentence was announced, with no objection or litigation from the DPD. The accused will soon begin his three-year prison sentence as a result of his guilty plea Wednesday morning.
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