Flores

INTRODUCTION

In 2010, petitioner Marcos Eli Flores pled no contest to the second degree murder of David Benjamin Smith. (Pen. Code,1 § 187, subd. (a).) For this offense and the related enhancements, the trial court sentenced petitioner to an aggregate term of 36 years to life. In 2019, petitioner filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to section 1170.95. The trial court denied the petition on the ground petitioner had not set out a prima facie claim for relief. On appeal, petitioner asserts he established a prima facie claim for resentencing relief, and the court therefore erred in denying the petition without issuing an order to show cause or holding an evidentiary hearing. We agree with petitioner and we reverse.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

I. Criminal Prosecution

On March 18, 2009, Smith was found deceased, lying face down with tire tracks across his back on the side of the road in rural Fresno County.2 On March 25, 2009, the Fresno County District Attorney filed a first amended complaint, charging petitioner and his codefendant Loy Allen Bowman with Smith’s murder (§ 187, subd. (a)), with the special allegation that a principal was armed with a firearm (§…