People v. Bentley

Filed 9/29/20 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B299678 (Super. Ct. No. BA224537) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County)

v.

JOSEPH BENTLEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

Where, as a matter of law, a defendant is not eligible for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.95,1 his petition therefor, may be summarily denied. Joseph Bentley appeals the trial court’s order denying his petition for resentencing. He contends the trial court erred when it summarily denied the petition without continuing it, so that his counsel could obtain and review the transcript of his original trial. He contends the same error deprived him of due process and of the effective assistance of counsel. We affirm the order denying resentencing.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Facts and Procedural History In 2002, a jury convicted appellant of the first degree murder of Alvin Green and the attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murders of Lenist Johnson, Jason Payne and Devon Brown, all in a gang-related shooting. Appellant and a codefendant confronted members of a rival gang in a shopping center parking lot. The rival gang members quickly left in their car. Appellant and his codefendant chased them. With appellant driving, his co-defendant leaned out of the passenger side window and fired 25 to 30 shots at the victims’ car. One of the bullets struck Green in the neck, killing him. The jury also found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder “was intentional and perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person . . . with the intent to inflict death.” (§190.2, subd. (a)(21).) We affirmed the conviction in an nonpublished opinion, People v. Bentley (Jan. 21, 2004, B163959). In 2019, after Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) was enacted, appellant filed a petition for resentencing. The trial court appointed counsel to represent him and set a briefing and hearing schedule. The prosecutor opposed the motion contending, that appellant was not eligible for resentencing. Appellant’s counsel requested an extension of time in which to reply to the opposition, and a continuance of the hearing because he could not get a copy of appellant’s trial transcript before the hearing date. The trial court denied both requests. It then denied appellant’s petition and concluded that he was not eligible for resentencing.