California Court of Appeal Oct 9, 2023 No. E081142Unpublished
Filed 10/9/23 P. v. Sherwood CA4/2
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, E081142
v. (Super.Ct.No. FBV3726)
ROBIN LEE SHERWOOD, OPINION
Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Shannon L.
Faherty, Judge. Affirmed.
Robin Lee Sherwood, in pro. per.; and Susan S. Bauguess, under appointment by
the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.
1
I. INTRODUCTION
This is defendant and appellant Robin Lee Sherwood’s second appeal from a 1 2 postjudgment order denying his Penal Code section 1172.6 (formerly section 1170.95)
petition for resentencing under the procedures established by Senate Bill Nos. 775 and
1437. Counsel has filed a brief under the authority of People v. Delgadillo (2022) 14
Cal.5th 216 (Delgadillo), requesting this court to conduct an independent review of the
record. In addition, Sherwood has had an opportunity to file a supplemental brief with
this court and has done so. Having considered Sherwood’s supplemental brief in
accordance with Delgadillo, we shall affirm. 3 II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The victim was shot at the front door of his residence. The police interviewed
Vavao Faumui, who told them that he, Sherwood, and two other men went to the victim’s
residence to rob him. Sherwood, who was a former employee of the victim, believed that
the victim kept a large amount of money in his safe at this residence. Faumui told the
1 All future statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered section 1170.95 as section 1172.6, with no substantive change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) 3 The factual background is taken from this court’s nonpublished opinion in Sherwood’s direct appeal, case No. E041930. (People v. Sherwood (Dec. 7, 2007, E041930) [nonpub. opn.] [2007 Cal.App.Unpub. Lexis 9900; 2007 WL 4285290] (Sherwood I).) These same facts were cited in Sherwood’s prior postjudgment appeal, case No. E077239. (People v. Sherwood (Nov. 3, 2022, E077239) [nonpub. opn.] [2022 Cal.App.Unpub. Lexis 6703; 2022 WL 16643094] (Sherwood II).) We take judicial notice of our prior nonpublished opinions in case Nos. E041930 and E077239.
2
police that when the victim answered the door, Faumui wrestled with him. Then
somebody shot the victim. The victim eventually died from his gunshot wounds.
The police also interviewed Sherwood. Sherwood said that the plan was to go to
the victim’s house and steal the safe, and that nobody was supposed to be home at the
time. Sherwood said that he drove Faumui to the victim’s house, dropped him off, and
then parked across the street to act as a lookout in case the police came.
Sherwood was charged with several offenses and pled not guilty. His case went to
trial on September 6, 2006. After a number of prosecution witnesses testified, Sherwood
decided to change his plea. On September 13, 2006, he signed a plea form indicating that
he was voluntarily pleading guilty because he was guilty, and for no other reason (i.e.,
there was no plea agreement with the prosecution). Sherwood pled guilty to first degree
An evidentiary hearing was held on May 28, 2021. Following the hearing, the
trial court found defendant was a major participant in the crime and determined, beyond a
reasonable doubt, that he could still be convicted of first degree murder under the law as
amended. Sherwood again appealed, and on November 4, 2022, this court concluded that
“the evidence was more than sufficient for the trial judge to find Sherwood was a major
participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life” and affirmed the order
denying Sherwood’s section 1172.6 petition. We also rejected Sherwood’s contention
that the trial judge erred by admitting some exhibits restricted by the later passage of
Senate Bill No. 775. We determined that “almost all the evidence the trial judge admitted
remains permissible under the modified law. Though some items the trial judge admitted
4
could be used for only limited purposes, the trial judge denied Sherwood’s petition based
on other evidence.” (Sherwood II, supra, E077239.)
After our affirmance, Sherwood filed a new section 1172.6 petition for
resentencing on February 27, 2023. On that same date, the trial court denied the petition,
noting, “[t]he petition is denied as it was denied previously by Judge Nakata on
05/28/2021 and confirmed on Appeal.” Sherwood timely appealed.
III. DISCUSSION
After defendant appealed, appointed appellate counsel filed a brief under the
authority of Delgadillo, supra, 14 Cal.5th 216, setting forth a statement of the case and a
summary of the procedural background and potential issue of whether Sherwood is
entitled to a new evidentiary hearing following the passage of Senate Bill No. 775 and the
opinion in People v. Lewis (2021) 11 Cal.5th 952 (Lewis). (See People v. Wende (1979)
25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende); Anders v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 738 (Anders).) Counsel
also requests that this court exercise our discretion to independently review the record to
determine whether there are any arguable issues on appeal pursuant to Delgadillo.
We offered Sherwood an opportunity to file a personal supplemental brief, and he
has done so. In his supplemental brief, Sherwood makes several claims relating to the
underlying trial, his plea, and his sentence based on ineffective assistance of counsel
and/or prosecutorial misconduct. He also argues the trial court erred by failing to adhere
to the procedures established by section 1172.6 and in denying him relief.
5
A. Legal Background
In Wende, our Supreme Court held that “Courts of Appeal must conduct a review
of the entire record whenever appointed counsel submits a brief on direct appeal which
raises no specific issues or describes the appeal as frivolous.” (Delgadillo, supra, 14
Cal.5th at p. 221.) The Wende procedure applies “to the first appeal as of right and is
compelled by the constitutional right to counsel under the Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution.” (Delgadillo, at p. 221.)
In Delgadillo, supra, 14 Cal.5th 216, the Supreme Court held that the Wende
independent review procedure is not constitutionally required in an appeal from a
postconviction order denying a section 1172.6 petition for resentencing because the
denial does not implicate a defendant’s constitutional right to counsel in a first appeal as
of right. (Delgadillo, at pp. 222, 224-226.) The court further found that general due
process principles regarding fundamental fairness do not compel a Wende independent
review of the record. (Id. at pp. 229-232.) However, the court explained that if a no-
issues brief is filed in a section 1172.6 appeal and the defendant then “files a
supplemental brief or letter, the Court of Appeal is required to evaluate the specific
arguments presented in that brief and to issue a written opinion.” (Id. at p. 232.) We are
not required to conduct “an independent review of the entire record to identify unraised
issues” but may do so at our discretion. (Ibid. [“While it is wholly within the court’s
discretion, the Court of Appeal is not barred from conducting its own independent review
of the record in any individual section 1172.6 appeal.”])
6
Senate Bill No. 1437 limited accomplice liability under the felony-murder rule and
eliminated the natural and probable consequences doctrine as it relates to murder to
ensure a person’s sentence is proportionate with his or her individual criminal culpability.
(People v. Gentile (2020) 10 Cal.5th 830, 842-843; Lewis, supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 957,
971.) Senate Bill 1437 did this by amending section 188, which defines malice, and
section 189, which defines the degrees of murder and limits the circumstances under
which a person may be convicted of felony murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, §§ 2 & 3.)
The Legislature also created a procedure for offenders previously convicted of
felony murder or murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine to seek
retroactive relief if they could no longer be convicted of murder under the new law.
(§ 1172.6, subd. (a); Lewis, supra, 11 Cal.5th at p. 959; People v. Strong (2022) 13
Cal.5th 698, 707-708.) Under subdivision (a), “[a] person convicted of felony murder or
murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine . . . may file a petition”
with the sentencing court to have his or her murder conviction vacated and to be
resentenced on any remaining counts. (§ 1172.6, subd. (a).)
After receiving a petition containing the required information, “the court must
evaluate the petition ‘to determine whether the petitioner has made a prima facie case for
relief.’” (Strong, supra, 13 Cal.5th at p. 708, citing § 1172.6, subd. (c).) If the defendant
makes a prima facie showing of entitlement to relief, the court must issue an order to
show cause and hold an evidentiary hearing. (§ 1172.6, subds. (c), (d)(3).) “If the court
declines to make an order to show cause, it shall provide a statement fully setting forth its
7
reasons for doing so.” (§ 1172.6, subd. (c).) A trial court’s failure to follow the
procedures enacted in section 1172.6 is analyzed for prejudice under the state law
standard of People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 (Watson). (Lewis, supra, 11
Cal.5th at pp. 973-974.)
A petitioner may file a successive petition under section 1172.6 if it is based on
new legal authority. (People v. Farfan (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 942, 946-947, 950-951
(Farfan).) Farfan held the defendant in that case could file a successive petition because
the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Lewis and other published cases demonstrated
the “still-evolving state of [former] section 1170.95 jurisprudence” such that a second
petition would not be barred by collateral estoppel. (Farfan, at p. 950.)
B. Analysis
Here, although Sherwood could file a successive section 1172.6 petition,
Sherwood cannot show that he was prejudiced by the trial court’s summary denial of his
second section 1172.6 petition. To demonstrate prejudice from the denial of a
section 1172.6 petition before the issuance of an order to show cause, Sherwood must
show it is reasonably probable that, absent the error, his petition would not have been
summarily denied without an evidentiary hearing. (Lewis, supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 972-
974; Watson, supra, 46 Cal.2d at p. 836.) The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on
his first section 1172.6 petition following remand by this court in case No. E073236.
Following the hearing, the trial court found Sherwood was a major participant in the
crime and determined, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he could still be convicted of first
8
degree murder under the law as amended. Sherwood thereafter again appealed (case
No. E077239), and in November 2022, this court concluded that “the evidence was more
than sufficient for the trial judge to find Sherwood was a major participant who acted
with reckless indifference to human life” and affirmed the order denying Sherwood’s first
section 1172.6 petition. We also rejected Sherwood’s claim that the trial court erred by
admitting some exhibits restricted by the later passage of Senate Bill No. 775. (Sherwood
II, supra, E077239.) Sherwood has not shown the ruling on his first section 1172.6
petition was invalid.
Furthermore, under the doctrine of law of the case, a party may not seek appellate
reconsideration of an already decided issue in the same case absent some significant
change in circumstances. (People v. Boyer (2006) 38 Cal.4th 412, 441, superseded by
statute on another ground.) We find no compelling change in circumstances here that
would justify reconsidering such issues. (Ibid.) Moreover, Sherwood may not use the
procedures set forth in section 1172.6 to relitigate his conviction, his sentence, guilty
plea, or the underlying trial. Accordingly, we reject Sherwood’s claims related to his
guilty plea and the underlying trial.
The trial court correctly denied Sherwood’s second section 1172.6 petition for
resentencing.
9
IV. DISPOSITION
The order denying Sherwood’s second section 1172.6 petition is affirmed.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
CODRINGTON J. We concur:
RAMIREZ P. J.
MENETREZ J.
10
AI Brief
AI-generated · verify before citing
Holding. The court affirmed the denial of the defendant's successive Penal Code section 1172.6 petition, holding that the defendant failed to show prejudice from the summary denial and was barred by the law of the case doctrine from relitigating issues already decided in a prior evidentiary hearing.
Issues
Whether the trial court erred in summarily denying a successive petition for resentencing under Penal Code section 1172.6.
Whether the defendant is entitled to relitigate claims regarding his underlying conviction, plea, and sentence in a successive section 1172.6 petition.
Disposition. Affirmed
Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion
“The trial court correctly denied Sherwood’s second section 1172.6 petition for resentencing.”
“Moreover, Sherwood may not use the procedures set forth in section 1172.6 to relitigate his conviction, his sentence, guilty plea, or the underlying trial.”