People v. St. Pierre CA2/4

Filed 8/18/25 P. v. St. Pierre CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115(a).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, B336963

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA352850 v.

JASON EDWARD ST. PIERRE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Curtis B. Rappe. Affirmed. Gary V. Crooks, 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, Kenneth C. Byrne and Allison H. Chung, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

In 2010, a jury convicted defendant and appellant Jason Edward St. Pierre of two counts of willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder. (Pen. Code,1 §§ 664, 187, subd. (a).) In 2022, St. Pierre filed a petition for resentencing under section 1172.6.2 The trial court denied St. Pierre relief as a matter of law, concluding he was prima facie ineligible for resentencing because his jury was not instructed on the natural and probable consequences doctrine as a theory of attempted murder liability. On appeal, St. Pierre argues that the aiding and abetting instructions given at his trial allowed the jury to convict him of attempted murder without finding that he harbored the intent to kill, and consequently, his case should be remanded for an evidentiary hearing under section 1172.6, subdivision (d). We reject this contention. As the trial court correctly noted, St. Pierre’s jury was never instructed on the natural and probable consequences doctrine. Moreover, although the jury was instructed on aiding and abetting as a form of liability, the jury was also instructed that it could not convict St. Pierre of attempted murder unless it explicitly found that he harbored the intent to kill the victims. We therefore affirm the trial court’s order denying St. Pierre section 1172.6 relief as a matter of law.

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 Section 1172.6 allows resentencing relief for certain individuals convicted of “attempted murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine[.]” (1172.6, subd. (a).)