Error and/or relief
Because there was a change in the statutory or case law, previous petitions under section 1172.6 are not a bar to a petition filed in reliance on the change in the law. It was error to summarily deny the petition.
First Holding:
Neither the express language of section 1172.6 nor the stated purpose of the legislation supports limiting access to relief under section 1172.6 where the subsequent petition rested on new legal authority that challenged the basis for the superior court’s summary denial of the previous petition. Enactment of SB 775 constituted new legal authority that entitled the defendant to file a new petition.
Authority:
People v. Farfan (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 942, 946-947
Second Holding:
A defendant whose resentencing petition is denied before an order to show cause issues must demonstrate there is a reasonable probability that in the absence of the error the defendant would have obtained a more favorable result.
The record of conviction here fails to establish that defendant was ineligible for resentencing under section 1172.6 as a matter of law. Accordingly, it is apparent that but for the trial court’s error, defendant would have obtained a more favorable result.
Authority:
People v. Lewis (2021) 11 Cal.5th 952, 974
Third Holding:
The jury was instructed that an aider and abettor must have intended to commit, or aid and abet the felony of robbery (in this case) before or at the time that she caused the death. This was error. Under section 189(e)(2), a nonkiller must intend to kill and must assist the actual killer in the lethal act itself to be guilty of felony murder.
The instructions did not require the jury to make that finding. Thus, the record of conviction does not establish that the defendant is ineligible for relief as a matter of law and the trial court’s error in dismissing her petition for resentencing as an invalid, successive petition was not harmless. The order denying defendant’s petition for resentencing under section 1172.6 is reversed and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.
Authority:
PEN 189(e)(2)
People v. Morris (2026) 19 Cal.5th 671, 678, 693