People v. Garcia CA3

Filed 12/21/20 P. v. Garcia CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

THE PEOPLE, C089545

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. CRF201573201) v.

JORGE ANDRES TORRES GARCIA,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Jorge Andres Torres Garcia appeals the trial court’s order denying his petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.95. On appeal, defendant contends his voluntary manslaughter conviction is eligible for relief under the new law. Disagreeing, we affirm.

1

BACKGROUND A 2016 information charged defendant and his codefendant with murder (Pen. Code, § 187);1 attempted second degree robbery (§§ 21a, 211, 212.5, subd. (c)); and conspiracy to commit a felony (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)). The information alleged defendant was culpable for murder pursuant to felony-murder principles articulated in section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17), and that the codefendant personally discharged the firearm that resulted in the victim’s death. In 2017 defendant pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter (§ 192, subd. (a)) and other crimes, in exchange for a stipulated sentence of 14 years in state prison. Consistent with that agreement, the trial court sentenced defendant to a term of 14 years in state prison. Later, a jury acquitted the codefendant of all charges. “In 2018, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 1437), which restricted the circumstances under which a person can be liable for felony murder and abrogated the natural and probable consequences doctrine as applied to murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015.) [The law added section 1170.95,] . . . a procedure permitting qualified persons with murder convictions to petition to vacate their convictions and obtain resentencing if they were previously convicted of felony murder or murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine.” (People v. Flores (2020) 44 Cal.App.5th 985, 989 (Flores).) In March 2019 defendant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, seeking vacatur of his manslaughter conviction pursuant to section 1170.95, because he was “charged with the same charges as [codefendant] . . . under the [f]elony-[m]urder rule.”2