People v. Diaz CA3

BACKGROUND

In 2007, a jury found defendant guilty of three counts of attempted murder arising out of a gang related shooting. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of 18 years four months, plus 50 years to life. 2 On appeal, we affirmed defendant’s conviction. (People v. Diaz (Oct. 20, 2009, C057586) [nonpub. opn.].) In 2019, defendant filed a section 1170.95 petition for resentencing “seeking to vacate [his] conviction for attempted murder.” In the trial court, he argued that section 1170.95 applied to attempted murder, but did not make an equal protection claim. The trial court denied the petition on the grounds that under the plain language of section 1170.95, defendant was not eligible for relief for his attempted murder convictions.

DISCUSSION

General Statutory Background Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) amended “the felony murder rule and the natural and probable consequences doctrine, as it relates to murder, to ensure that murder liability is not imposed on a person who is not the actual killer, did not act with

Defendant indicates he was sentenced to a determinate term of 30 years and an indeterminate term of 25 years to life,…