People v. Starling CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2012, appellant Gregory William Starling (appellant) was convicted of premeditated attempted murder (Pen. Code,1 §§ 664/187, subd. (a)) and sentenced to the second-strike term of 14 years to life, plus 25 years to life for the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)), five years for a prior serious felony enhancement (§ 667, subd. (a)), and two one-year terms for prior prison term enhancements (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). The judgment was affirmed on direct appeal. In 2022, the trial court dismissed the prior prison term enhancements as a result of subsequent legislation but failed to conduct the full resentencing hearing as required by statute. In 2023, the court conducted that hearing, dismissed the prior serious felony enhancement, declined to further reduce appellant’s sentence, and resentenced him to 14 years to life for attempted premeditated murder, plus 25 years to life for the firearm enhancement. On appeal from the resentencing hearing, appellate counsel filed a brief that summarized the facts with citations to the record, raised no issues, and asked this court to independently review the record. (People v. Wende…