People v. Woods CA4/1

Filed 11/9/22 P. v. Woods CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D080417

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. CR83908)

EARNEST C. WOODS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Joan P. Weber, Judge. Affirmed. Christine M. Aros, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent. Earnest C. Woods appeals from an order denying his petition to vacate his murder conviction and for resentencing under former Penal Code section

1170.95 (now section 1172.6).1 His appointed appellate counsel filed an

1 Section 1170.95 was amended effective January 1, 2022 and then renumbered as section 1172.6 without substantive change on June 30, 2022. (See Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10, (Assem. Bill No. 200).) We refer to the subject

opening brief raising no arguable issues. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende); Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 (Anders).) Woods also filed a supplemental brief on his own behalf. We have independently reviewed the record and find no arguable issue

that would result in a modification or reversal of the trial court’s order.2 Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s order. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND During a dispute in a parking lot outside of a dance club, Woods aimed and fired a gun into a man’s chest, killing him. A jury convicted Woods in 1987 of second degree murder (§ 187) and found true an allegation that he personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5). The court sentenced Woods to a term of 15 years to life for second degree murder plus two consecutive years for the firearm enhancement. We affirmed the conviction on direct appeal in an unpublished opinion. (People v. Woods (Dec. 23, 1988, D06442) [nonpub. opn.].) We concluded the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on the law of implied malice under CALJIC No. 8.11, but that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt “given the parties’ approaches to the case combined with the overwhelming evidence supporting the prosecution’s