Heard

INTRODUCTION

Frank Eli Heard is serving a sentence of 23 years plus 80 years to life for two counts of attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murder for a drive-by shooting he committed at age 15, and one count of voluntary manslaughter for a homicide he committed just after he turned 16. After 15 years of incarceration, he petitioned the trial court to recall his sentence and

resentence him to a lesser sentence under Penal Code1 section 1170, former subdivision (d)(2) (now subdivision (d)(1)). Under this provision, a juvenile offender who “was sentenced to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole” and has been incarcerated for at least 15 years “may submit to the sentencing court a petition for recall and resentencing.” (§ 1170, former subd. (d)(2)(A)(i), now subd. (d)(1)(A).) The trial court denied Heard’s petition, finding him ineligible for relief because he was not sentenced to an

explicitly designated term of life without the possibility of parole.2 Heard appeals, presenting two issues of first impression. First, he asserts the resentencing provision should be interpreted to apply not only to juvenile offenders sentenced to explicitly designated…