P.v. Williams CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Charges and Plea The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged defendant in a felony complaint with murder in violation of Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a). The complaint additionally alleged defendant personally used a handgun in the commission of the offense. (§ 12022.5.) A certificate and order of magistrate dated March 1986 certified defendant pled guilty to “violation section 187a PC a felony.” Defendant was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. His abstract of judgment states the sentence was imposed for a conviction of second degree murder.

1 Undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Penal Code.

2 B. Defendant’s First Petition for Resentencing2 In January 2019, defendant filed his first section 1172.6 petition for resentencing. In his form petition, defendant checked boxes declaring (1) “[a] complaint . . . was filed against [him] that allowed the prosecution to proceed under a theory of felony murder or murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine[;]” (2) he “pled guilty or no contest to 1st or 2nd degree murder in lieu of going to trial because [he] believed [he] could…