People v. Lopez CA2/4

Filed 10/3/24 P. v. Lopez CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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(a). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115(a).

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FOUR

THE PEOPLE, B332958

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA091954 v.

RONALD L. LOPEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Laura Laesecke, Judge. Affirmed. Ralph Goldsen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2017, the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed a second amended information charging defendant and appellant Ronald Lee Lopez with 17 felony offenses.1 A jury convicted Lopez on all counts. Relevant to this appeal, the jury convicted Lopez of the first degree murder of William Knight (Pen. Code,2 § 187, subd. (a); count 1); conspiracy to murder Knight (§§ 182, 187, subd. (a); count 2); the attempted murders of James Arrellano and Daniel Bugarin (§§ 664, 187, subd. (a); counts 16 and 18); and conspiracy to murder Arrellano and Bugarin (§§ 182, 187, subd. (a); counts 17 and 19). The trial court sentenced Lopez to 535 years to life in state prison. In 2022, Lopez filed a petition for resentencing under former section 1170.95.3 The trial court appointed counsel on Lopez’s behalf. The prosecution filed a response, arguing, among other things, because the jury’s guilty verdicts on the conspiracy counts all included findings that Lopez harbored the intent to

1 The second amended information also charged two co- defendants, David Solorio and Sheldon McMorries, with various offenses, many of which overlapped with Lopez’s charges. 2 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 3 Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered section 1170.95 to section 1172.6. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) There were no substantive changes to the statute. For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to the statute by its new code section. That section provides relief for certain individuals convicted of attempted murder under the natural and probable consequence doctrine, as well as certain individuals convicted of murder under an imputed-malice theory of liability. (See § 1172.6.)