People v. Gomez CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

Jovani Manuel Gomez was convicted in 2011 of murder and other crimes. He appeals from the superior court’s order following an evidentiary hearing denying his petition for resentencing under Penal Code section 1172.6.1 In this, his second, appeal from an order denying his section 1172.6 petition, Gomez argues the superior court failed to consider his relative youth—he was 23 years old at the time of the murder—among the totality of the circumstances relevant to determining whether he had the requisite mental state for second degree murder. We conclude there is no reasonable likelihood that, had the superior court considered Gomez’s age when he committed the murder, the court would have granted Gomez’s petition. Therefore, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. A Jury Convicts Gomez of First Degree Murder, We Reverse That Conviction, and the People Agree To Reduce the Conviction to Second Degree Murder Our opinion reversing the superior court’s order summarily denying Gomez’s section 1172.6 petition summarized the evidence at trial. (See People v. Gomez (May 20, 2021, B303647) [nonpub. opn.] (Gomez II).) “Gomez, Kevin Alvarenga, Juan Carlos Andrade and…