People v. Quintana CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendants Daniel Paul Quintana and Maximiliano Venegas, Jr. appeal from the trial court’s orders denying their petitions for resentencing under Penal Code section 1172.6.1 We reverse the order denying Quintana’s petition and remand for further proceedings, but affirm the order denying Venegas’s petition.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND2

Around dusk on January 30, 2012, former Westside Wilmas gang member Ivan Zamora was walking in the city of Wilmington, California when four males in a white car pulled up to his location. He recognized them as Westside Wilmas gang

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code. The Legislature renumbered section 1170.95 as section 1172.6 effective June 30, 2022. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) For clarity, we will refer to section 1172.6 throughout this opinion.

As explained below, the facts are taken from the transcript of defendants’ preliminary hearing which was included in our record by augmentation order.

2 members Venegas, Quintana, Baby Toro, and Topo. Topo asked Zamora where he was from, and when Zamora identified himself, Topo and Baby Toro showed him their guns and then the car drove off. That same…