People v. York CA2/2

DISCUSSION

The Superior Court Failed to Appoint Counsel and Summarily Denied Appellant’s Section 1170.95 Petition in Error A. Applicable legal principles In 2018, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.), effectively abolishing the natural and probable consequences doctrine in cases of murder and limiting the application of the felony-murder doctrine. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 1, subd. (f); People v. Gentile (2020) 10 Cal.5th 830,

3 842–843 (Gentile); People v. Martinez (2019) 31 Cal.App.5th 719, 723 (Martinez).) With one narrow exception (see § 189, subd. (f)), Senate Bill No. 1437 effectively eliminates murder convictions premised on any theory of vicarious liability—that is, any theory by which a person can be convicted of murder for a killing committed by someone else, such as felony murder or the natural and probable consequences doctrine—unless the People also prove that the nonkiller defendant personally acted with the intent to kill or was a major participant who acted with reckless disregard to human life. (§ 189, subd. (e) [requiring that participant in specified felony during which a death occurs may be convicted of murder only if he or she…