Does Section 667, subdivision (e)(2)(C)(iv)(VIII) of the California Criminal Code include the term "offense punishable by life imprisonment"?

We also find it significant that section 667, subdivision (e)(2)(C)(iv)(VIII) is the final sub-clause in a list of specific crimes and categories of crimes. None of the other seven sub-clauses of section 667, subdivision (e)(2)(C)(iv) focuses on characteristics of the offender or the effect of other prior convictions on the offender's sentence. "The rule of statutory construction, noscitur a sociis, a word takes meaning from the company it keeps, is useful here. 'A word of uncertain meaning may be known from its associates and its meaning "enlarged or restrained by reference to the object of the whole clause in which it is used." [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (People v. Drennan (2000) 84 Cal.App.4th 1349, 1355.) " ' "In accordance with this principle of construction, a court will adopt a restrictive meaning of a listed item if acceptance of a more expansive meaning would make other items in the list unnecessary or redundant, or would otherwise make the item markedly dissimilar to the other items in the list." [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (Kaatz v. City of Seaside (2006) 143 Cal.App.4th 13, 40.) If we were to adopt the Attorney General's interpretation of the term "offense punishable in California by life imprisonment" as including offenses that are punishable by life imprisonment due to factors such as the presence of prior convictions, sub-clause (VIII) would be markedly dissimilar to the other

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