People v. Bloxton CA2/2

Filed 11/10/22 P. v. Bloxton CA2/2 Opinion following transfer from Supreme Court NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

THE PEOPLE, B307556

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA018339) v. OPINION ON REMAND DANTE LAVELL BLOXTON,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Gary J. Ferrari. Reversed and remanded.

Jonathan E. Demson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Matthew Rodriguez, Acting Attorney General, Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Wyatt Bloomfield and Nicholas J. Webster, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ****** Dante Lavell Bloxton (defendant) appeals the trial court’s denial of his petition for relief under Penal Code1 section 1172.6 (former section 1170.95).2 We previously affirmed the court’s order in an unpublished opinion, People v. Bloxton (July 29, 2021, B307556), concluding the record established defendant was ineligible for resentencing as a matter of law based on the true finding on the special circumstance allegation by the jury at trial. Upon review, the California Supreme Court transferred this case back to us to reconsider in light of People v. Strong (2022) 13 Cal.5th 698 (Strong). We now reverse the court’s order and remand the matter for the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing under section 1172.6.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered section 1172.6, with no change in text (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10). For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to the section by its new numbering only.