People v. Varela CA4/2

Filed 11/18/22 P. v. Varela CA4/2 Opinion following transfer from Supreme Court

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, E075562

v. (Super.Ct.No. CR58553)

SALVADOR TIRADO VARELA, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. John D. Molloy, Judge.

Reversed.

James M. Kehoe, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and

Appellant.

Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta, Attorneys General, Lance E. Winters, Chief

Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland and Charles C. Ragland, Senior Assistant

Attorney General, and Lynne G. McGinnis, Alan L. Amann, and A. Natasha Cortina,

Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

1

In 1996, a jury instructed on felony murder found petitioner Salvador Tirado

Varela guilty of first degree murder, with a kidnapping-murder special circumstance. In

2020, he filed a petition to vacate the murder conviction under Penal Code section