(a) A person convicted of a felony specified in subdivision (b) may be granted probation only in an unusual case where the interests of justice would best be served. When probation is granted in such a case, the court shall specify on the record and shall enter in the minutes the circumstances indicating that the interests of justice would best be served by such a disposition.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (a), probation shall not be granted to, nor shall the execution or imposition of sentence be suspended for, any of the following persons:
(1) Any person who is convicted of violating Section 11351 or 11351.5 of the Health and Safety Code by possessing for sale, or Section 11352 of the Health and Safety Code by selling, a substance containing 28.5 grams or more of cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of, or cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of, the Health and Safety Code, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least five grams of cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of, or cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of, the Health and Safety Code.
(2) Any person who is convicted of violating Section 11378 of the Health and Safety Code by possessing for sale, or Section 11379 of the Health and Safety Code by selling a substance containing 28.5 grams or more of methamphetamine or 57 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine.
(3) Any person who is convicted of violating subdivision (a) of Section 11379.6 of the Health and Safety Code, except those who manufacture phencyclidine, or who is convicted of an act which is punishable under subdivision (b) of Section 11379.6 of the Health and Safety Code, except those who offer to perform an act which aids in the manufacture of phencyclidine.
(4) Except as otherwise provided in Section 1203.07, any person who is convicted of violating Section 11353 or 11380 of the Health and Safety Code by using, soliciting, inducing, encouraging, or intimidating a minor to manufacture, compound, or sell heroin, cocaine base as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 11054 of the Health and Safety Code, cocaine as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11055 of the Health and Safety Code, or methamphetamine.
(5) Any person convicted of violating Section 11379.6, 11382, or 11383 of the Health and Safety Code with respect to methamphetamine, if he or she has one or more prior convictions for a violation of Section 11378, 11379, 11379.6, 11380, 11382, or 11383 of the Health and Safety Code with respect to methamphetamine.
(c) As used in this section, the term “manufacture” refers to the act of any person who manufactures, compounds, converts, produces, derives, processes, or prepares, either directly or indirectly by chemical extraction or independently by means of chemical synthesis.
(d) The existence of any previous conviction or fact which would make a person ineligible for probation under this section shall be alleged in the information or indictment, and either admitted by the defendant in open court, or found to be true by the jury trying the issue of guilt or by the court where guilt is established by a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or by trial by the court sitting without a jury.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 749, Sec. 5. (SB 1010) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018