People v. Munoz CA2/2

Filed 7/16/24 P. v. Munoz CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE, B329389

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. v. VA033493)

DELFINO OLIVAS MUNOZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, LaRonda J. McCoy, Judge. Affirmed. William L. Heyman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Nima Razfar, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _______________________________________

In 1996, a jury convicted appellant Delfino Olivas Munoz (Munoz) of special circumstance murder committed when he was 24 years old. Munoz was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (LWOP). In 2023, Munoz moved, pursuant to Penal Code1 section 1203.01, for a proceeding under People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261 (Franklin) and In re Cook (2019) 7 Cal.5th 439 (Cook) seeking to preserve evidence for a future youth offender parole hearing under section 3051. The trial court denied Munoz’s motion because he was statutorily ineligible for a youth offender parole hearing. Munoz appeals, contending section 3051 violates equal protection by excluding young adult offenders sentenced to LWOP. Munoz further contends his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. We reject these contentions and affirm the trial court’s order. DISCUSSION I. Section 3051 Section 3051 gives certain youth offenders the opportunity for parole in their 15th, 20th, or 25th year of incarceration, depending on the length of the sentence they are serving for their “controlling offense.”2 (§ 3051, subds. (a)(2)(B), (b)(1)–(4); Franklin, supra, 63 Cal.4th at p. 277.) The Legislature amended section 3051 in 2017 to allow parole eligibility hearings for juveniles—but not young adult offenders—sentenced to LWOP. (§ 3051, subd. (b)(4); Stats. 2017, ch. 684, § 1.5.) The purpose of this amendment was to bring