People v. Mejia CA2/5

DISCUSSION

A. Section 1172.

Effective January 1. 2019, Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017–2018 Reg. Sess.) amended sections 188 and 189, and added former section 1170.95 to the Penal Code. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, §§ 2–4.) Senate Bill No. 1437 limited application of the felony murder rule and eliminated murder based on the natural and probable consequences doctrine. Through former section 1170.95, Senate Bill No. 1437 also created a procedure by which a defendant previously convicted of murder under either of those theories could file a petition for resentencing. Effective January 1, 2022, Senate Bill No. 775 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) amended former section 1170.95 to include persons convicted under a “theory under which malice is imputed to a person based solely on that person’s participation in a crime.” (former § 1170.95, subd. (a); Stats. 2021, ch. 551, § 2.) Former section 1170.95 was subsequently renumbered section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) Pursuant to section 1172.6, subdivision (a)(1) to (3), a petitioner must file a petition in the sentencing court averring that: “(1) A complaint, information, or indictment was filed against the petitioner…