How have courts interpreted sentencing statements at sentencing?

Defendant's contentions require us to analyze the trial court's statements at sentencing. Certain presumptions also inform our analysis. "On appeal, we presume that the trial court followed established law and thus properly exercised its discretion in sentencing a criminal defendant. [Citations.] Thus, we may not assume the court was unaware of its discretion simply because it failed to explicitly refer to its alternative sentencing choices. [Citations.]" (People v. Weddington (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 468, 491-492 (Weddington); Bolian, supra, 231 Cal.App.4th at p. 1421.)