Mathis

BACKGROUND

A.

The vehicle chase ensued when police attempted to pull Mathis’s car over for a stop sign violation in late 2015.2 Mathis’s

1Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. All references to “Rules” are to the California Rules of Court. 2 The appellate record does not include direct evidence of

the facts underlying Mathis’s offenses. Instead, the clerk’s 1 16-year-old cousin, Torry Hines, was in the car with him. During the half-mile chase, Mathis “accelerated to a high rate of speed,” reached a speed of 90 miles per hour and ran a red light before crashing into a utility pole and a fire hydrant. The vehicle caught fire, and Mathis fled the scene while Hines was still in the car. Hines died as a result of the fiery crash. A stolen handgun was later recovered from the scene, along with, according to the People, a shoe that had been stolen during a recent burglary. Mathis, who was 22, was on parole at the time of the crash.

In 2017 Mathis agreed to a negotiated disposition that resulted in his guilty pleas on four counts: voluntary manslaughter (Pen. Code, § 192, subd. (a)), fleeing the scene of an accident (“hit and run”) resulting in death (Veh. Code, §…