People v. Rivera CA2/4

Filed 10/10/25 P. v. Rivera CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115(a).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, B336968

Plaintiff and Respondent, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TA143098 v.

MIGUEL NICHOLAS RIVERA,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgement of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Ricardo R. Ocampo, Judge. Affirmed. Christina Vanarelli, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

In 2019, a jury convicted Defendant-Appellant Miguel Rivera of two counts of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); counts 1 & 2)1 and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1); counts 3 & 4). The jury also found that Rivera personally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury and death in the commission of the murders (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)), that the murders were committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C)), and that a multiple-murders special circumstance allegation was true. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)).2 In August 2019, the trial court sentenced Rivera to two consecutive LWOP terms on the murders, with consecutive firearm enhancements of 25 years to life on each count, and consecutive 10-year gang enhancements on each count. On counts 3 and 4, the trial court sentenced Rivera to a determinate term of three years and eight months (consisting of an upper term of three years on count 3 and one-third of the two-year midterm on count 4) to run concurrent with the sentences on counts 1 and 2. On appeal, a different panel of this court concluded that Rivera was entitled to the retroactive benefit of newly-enacted

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 Section 190.2, subdivision (a)(3) provides that “[t]he penalty for a defendant who is found guilty of murder in the first degree is death or imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole [LWOP]” if “[t]he defendant, in this proceeding, has been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree.”