People v. Struggs CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 1981, a jury convicted petitioner Cedric Lynn Struggs1 with the first degree murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189; first count)2 of Alfred Joe Dishman. For this offense, the trial court sentenced petitioner to a term of 25 years to life with an additional one-year term for a firearm enhancement (§ 12022, subd. (a)). (People v. Struggs (Jan. 24, 1983, 15006 [nonpub. opn.] (Struggs I).) In 2019, petitioner filed a petition for resentencing on his murder conviction pursuant to former section 1170.95 (now § 1172.6).3 After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court applied a “sufficiency of the evidence” standard and denied relief on the ground petitioner was a major participant in the offense who acted with reckless indifference to human life, a disqualifying factor pursuant to section 1172.6. (People v. Struggs (May 27, 2022, F082234 [nonpub. opn.] (Struggs II).) Subsequently, this court held “the trial court erred in requiring the People to meet the burden of ‘sufficiency of the evidence,’ rather than the burden of beyond a reasonable doubt, which is required at the [former] section 1170.95, subdivision (d) evidentiary hearing.” (Struggs II, supra,…