People v. Lara CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

This matter is before us following remand from the California Supreme Court. Appellant Daniel Joseph Lara was 17 years old when he engaged in four separate gang-related shootings. A jury convicted him of three counts of attempted murder, and he was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. He appealed, arguing that the sentence violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, as it was effectively a sentence of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). We affirmed the sentence, holding that it did not violate the Eighth Amendment, as appellant’s life expectancy exceeds his minimum parole period by at least 19 years. We declined to address whether Penal Code section 3051 also would render the sentence constitutional. (See People v. Lara (Sept. 17, 1 2015, B258181) [nonpub. opn.].) The Supreme Court granted review, and stayed the matter pending its decision in People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261 (Franklin). Thereafter, in Franklin, the Supreme Court held that section 3051 moots a juvenile defendant’s constitutional challenge to a mandatory LWOP sentence. (Id. at p. 268.) Because the defendant there was sentenced before section…