People v. Gonzales CA6

I. BACKGROUND

In 1983, a jury convicted Gonzales of second degree murder and found true the allegation that he used a firearm in committing that offense. The trial court sentenced Gonzales to an indeterminate term of 17 years to life in prison, and the judgment was affirmed in People v. Gonzales (Dec. 19, 1985, A024720) [nonpub. opn.].

* Before Grover, Acting P. J., Danner, J., and Lie, J. 1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. In 2023, Gonzales filed a petition for resentencing,2 asserting that he was convicted of murder under the felony murder and natural and probable consequences doctrines and is entitled to relief under section 1172.6. Gonzales’s petition also alleged multiple “trial errors,” including insufficiency of evidence, erroneous admission of evidence, instructional error, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective assistance of trial counsel. In an opposition, the district attorney argued that Gonzales was ineligible for resentencing as a matter of law because he was tried as the sole perpetrator and convicted under a theory of second degree murder which required the jury to find malice beyond a reasonable doubt. The district attorney attached to…