People v. Bentley CA2/6

Filed 4/26/23 P. v. Bentley CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B321420 (Super. Ct. No. BA224537) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County)

v.

JOSEPH BENTLEY,

Defendant and Appellant.

Joseph Bentley appeals the order of the trial court denying his petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code section 1172.61 (former section 1170.95).2 We appointed counsel to represent appellant on appeal. After an examination of the record, counsel filed an opening brief raising no issues and requesting that we follow the procedures set forth in People v.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered 2 section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.)

Delgadillo (2022) 14 Cal.5th 216 (Delgadillo). Appellant filed his own supplemental brief, in propria persona. We affirm. Facts and Procedural Background3 In 2002, a jury convicted appellant of the first degree murder of Alvin Green (§ 187, subd. (a), count 1), along with the attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murders of Lenist Johnson, Jason Payne, and Devon Brown (§§ 664/187, subd. (a), counts 2, 3, & 4), all in a gang-related shooting. Appellant and his codefendant confronted members of a rival gang in a shopping center parking lot. The rival gang members quickly left in their car. Appellant and his codefendant chased them. With appellant driving, his codefendant leaned out of the passenger side window and fired 25 to 30 shots at the victims’ car. One of the bullets struck Green in the neck, killing him. The jury also found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder “was intentional and perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person . . . with the intent to inflict death.” (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(21).) We affirmed the conviction in a nonpublished opinion. (Bentley I., supra, B163959.) In 2019, appellant filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) and section 1172.6. The petition was denied. On appeal, we affirmed the order denying resentencing. (Bentley II., supra, 55 Cal.App.5th 150.)