People v. Bryant CA2/2

Filed 7/12/23 P. v. Bryant CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B325593

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TA016309) v.

ERIC BRYANT,

Defendant and Appellant.

THE COURT: * Defendant and appellant Eric Bryant (defendant) appeals from the denial of his petition for vacatur of his murder conviction and for resentencing under Penal Code former section 1170.95, now section 1172.6.1 After examination of the record,

1 Effective June 30, 2022, Penal Code section 1170.95 was renumbered section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) We will refer to the section by its new numbering only.

defendant’s appointed counsel found no arguable issues and filed a brief requesting that we exercise our discretion to conduct an independent review of the record, citing People v. Delgadillo (2022) 14 Cal.5th 216 (Delgadillo). Following the standard articulated in Delgadillo, we consider defendant’s supplemental brief and conduct a limited review of the record. (See Id. at pp. 230-232.) Finding no merit to defendant’s appeal, we affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND In 1992, defendant and codefendant Michael Black were convicted of two counts of attempted murder, with the true finding that the attempted murder was committed willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation. The jury found true the allegations that Black had personally used and discharged a firearm in the commission of the two offenses and, as to defendant, that a principal was armed with a firearm. Defendant was sentenced to two concurrent life terms plus one year. After defendant’s conviction, the Legislature passed Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.), amending sections 188 and 189, the laws pertaining to felony murder and murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine, “to ensure that murder liability is not imposed on a person who is not the actual killer, did not act with the intent to kill, or was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life.” (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 1, subd. (f).) Section 1172.6 provides a procedure for those convicted of murder