People v. Castaneda CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2010, appellant Nicolas Junior Castaneda, along with Steven Anthony Pack and Jose Tito Barajas, was convicted by a jury of second degree murder (Pen. Code,1 § 187), two counts of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)), and the negligent discharge of a firearm (§ 246.3, subd. (a)), a lesser included offense of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle (§ 246). Castaneda alone was convicted of actively participating in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a)). He was sentenced to an indeterminate term of 15 years to life, plus a consecutive determinate term of five years eight months. In 2019, Castaneda filed a petition for resentencing under former section 1170.95, now renumbered section 1172.6. The trial court denied the petition at the prima facie stage, and we affirmed the denial on appeal. (People v. Castaneda (Apr. 25, 2022, F080398) [nonpub. opn.] (Castaneda II).) In 2022, Castaneda filed a second petition for resentencing, which the trial court denied at the prima facie stage. Castaneda now appeals from that order. This case presents the following issues: (1) Is Castaneda’s claim that the jury could have convicted him of second degree murder on a…