In re Taylor

*546 Petitioner Anthony Taylor participated in an attempted robbery at a Livermore liquor store during which one of his accomplices shot to death a store employee, 70-year-old Kathryn Cary. In 1994, a jury convicted Taylor of first degree felony murder and found that the killing occurred in the commission of an attempted robbery that he aided and abetted "as a major participant" and "with reckless indifference to human life," a special circumstance requiring a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole under Penal Code section 190.2, subdivision (d) ( section 190.2(d) ).

In 2018, Taylor filed the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to have the special circumstance vacated under People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 , 189 Cal.Rptr.3d 208 , 351 P.3d 330 ( Banks ) and People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 , 203 Cal.Rptr.3d 407 , 372 P.3d 811 ( Clark ), which clarified "what it means for an aiding and abetting defendant to be a 'major participant' who acted with a 'reckless indifference to human life.' " ( In re Miller (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 960 , 964, 222 Cal.Rptr.3d 691 ( Miller ).) Under this authority, a defendant acts with a reckless…