People v. Williams CA4/1

Filed 9/20/23 P. v. Williams CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D081186

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD150358)

TASHION WILLIAMS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Evan P. Kirvin, Judge. Reversed and remanded. Aurora E. Bewicke, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Arlene A. Sevidal, Lynne G. McGinnis and Andrew Mestman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

MEMORANDUM OPINION1 Tashion Williams appeals from an order denying his petition for resentencing of a 2001 special circumstance murder conviction under Penal

Code section 1172.6.2 The People concede the trial court erred by finding Williams ineligible for relief as a matter of law at the prima facie stage. We accept the concession. Williams and his co-defendant, Darnell Johnson, were each charged with murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and conspiracy to commit murder (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)), with a lying-in-wait special circumstance (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)). Williams alone was charged with personal use of a deadly weapon. (§ 12022, subd. (b).) Both men were tried in a single trial with two different juries. The Williams jury and Johnson jury convicted each defendant of first degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, but acquitted on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The Williams jury also found true that Williams personally used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder. The trial court sentenced both defendants to life without the possibility of parole. On direct appeal, we affirmed the judgment as to both defendants. (People v. Johnson (Jan. 7, 2003, D038107) [nonpub. opn.] 2003 WL 42502.)