People v. Martin CA2/5

Filed 1/19/21 P. v. Martin CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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(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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B299948

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. A982883) v.

JEROME MARTIN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Michael E. Pastor, Judge. Affirmed. Heather J. Manolakas, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Idan Ivri and Gary A. Lieberman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Defendant Jerome Martin appeals the denial of his petition for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95.1 As defendant was not entitled to relief as a matter of law, we affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 1. The Offenses, Conviction, and Appeal2 Among multiple offenses, defendant and his codefendant were convicted of two counts of special circumstances murder and one count of attempted murder. The circumstances of defendant’s crime are not completely set out in the limited record before us. This much is known: “The two decedents and the surviving victim of the attempted murder, Angela Merrit, were bound at the wrists and placed in a closet. Gasoline was poured under the closet door. Furniture was used to barricade the door in the event the two decedents or Ms. Merrit would attempt to escape. The gasoline was ignited and Ms. Merrit was able to

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 We take our discussion of the facts from the opinion affirming defendant’s conviction. (People v. Martin (Apr. 25, 1995, B081736) [nonpub. opn.].) The Attorney General initially sought judicial notice of our entire file in the prior appeal, specifically attaching to the motion a copy of the prior opinion, a single jury instruction, and the reporter’s transcript of the verdict. We granted the motion, but indicated that much of the court’s record had been destroyed. As the Attorney General’s brief had referred to the entirety of the jury instructions, we ordered the Attorney General to file a second request for judicial notice including all portions of the prior record on which its brief relied. The Attorney General did so, and we granted the request. We rely on those documents in our discussion of the proceedings in the trial court.