People v. Manzanares CA4/3

INTRODUCTION

Juan Manzanares was convicted in 2008 of one count of first degree murder for the shooting death of Abraham Ortega and three counts of premeditated attempted murder.1 In 2021 Manzanares filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to Penal Code section 1172.6.2 The trial court denied Manzanares’s resentencing petition after conducting an evidentiary hearing under section 1172.6, subdivision (d). Manzanares appeals from the order denying his petition. We conclude the trial court misidentified the relevant life- endangering act and thereby used an incorrect legal standard for determining Manzanares’s mens rea for aiding and abetting implied malice murder. We therefore reverse and remand with directions to the trial court to conduct a new evidentiary hearing using the correct life-endangering act and consistent with this opinion.

FACTS

Hard Times and Santa Nita are rival criminal street gangs. Manzanares was a member or associate of Hard Times. The murder victim, Abraham Ortega, was a member of or affiliated with Santa Nita.

1 The first degree murder conviction was later reduced to second

degree murder pursuant to People v. Chiu (2014) 59 Cal.4th 155. 2 Further code…