People v. Aguero CA6

I. BACKGROUND2

A. The Plea

In 2017, following a preliminary hearing, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed an information charging Aguero with the murder (§ 187) of Christopher Maxwell Wrenn. In the information, the district attorney alleged that a principal in the commission of the murder personally used a handgun. (§ 12022.53, subds. (b) & (e)(1).) The information further alleged that Aguero had a prior strike conviction for willful discharge of a firearm with gross negligence (§ 246.3). (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12.) Effective January 1, 2019, while Aguero’s case was still pending, the Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1437 narrowed the felony murder rule and eliminated the natural and probable consequences theory of murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 1, subd. (f).) Senate Bill 1437 amended the Penal Code effective January 1, 2019, “to ensure that murder liability is not imposed on a person who is not the actual killer, did not act with the intent to kill, or was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life.” (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § l, subd. (f), p. 6674.) Section 188, subdivision (a)(3) was…