People v. Tuggle CA5

DISCUSSION

Defendant’s appointed counsel filed a brief under the authority of Delgadillo, supra, 14 Cal.5th 216, setting forth a statement of the case and procedural background, but found no specific arguments as grounds for relief. Counsel requests that we exercise our discretion and independently examine the record for any arguable issues. We offered defendant an opportunity to file a supplemental brief and he filed a response. Defendant argues the trial court erred in denying his petition at the prima facie stage and the court should have appointed counsel and held an evidentiary hearing, which violated his state and federal constitutional rights to due process. Defendant also argues the court failed to consider his youth as a factor when it denied the resentencing petition.

3. A. Additional Background The trial court denied defendant’s petition for resentencing under section 1172.6 without the appointment of counsel, ruling as follows:

“[Defendant] is serving a 17-year sentence resulting from a June 3, 2014, plea. He was sentenced to the upper term of 9 years for a violation of … section 245[, subdivision] (b), assault with a semi-automatic firearm. He was sentenced to a[]…