People v. Rangel CA2/8

Filed 12/27/22 P. v. Rangel CA2/8 Opinion following transfer from Supreme Court NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B311083

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. KA050596) v.

RAYMOND RANGEL, III,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Bruce F. Marrs, Judge. Reversed.

Edward H. Schulman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Idan Ivri, Charles S. Lee and Michael C. Keller, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

__________________________ INTRODUCTION On December 21, 2021, we affirmed the summary denial of Raymond Rangel III’s s petition for resentencing under Penal Code1 section 1170.95.2 This section allows those convicted of murder to seek retroactive relief if changes to the murder statutes enacted in Senate Bill No. 1437 affect their previously sustained convictions. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, §§ 2–4; People v. Gentile (2020) 10 Cal.5th 830, 842 (Gentile).) In 2002, a jury found Rangel and co-defendant Daniel Louis Lopez guilty of first degree special circumstance murder while engaged in a robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). The jury also found true the special circumstance allegation that Lopez, but not Rangel, personally used a firearm causing the victim’s death. Both defendants were sentenced to a minimum of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Both appealed their convictions. On May 30, 2003, this court rejected all claims on appeal, including a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s special circumstance findings, and affirmed the judgment in its entirety. (People v. Daniel Louis Lopez, Jr., et al (May 30, 2003, B158058) [nonpub. opn.].) On April 17, 2020, Rangel filed a petition to vacate his conviction. On February 5, 2021, the trial court denied the petition, stating: “A defendant convicted of murder with felony murder of special circumstances is not, as a matter of law,