People v. Diaz CA4/1

BACKGROUND

Diaz shot and killed a man during an argument. The People charged him with willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); subsequent section references are to this code) and alleged that in committing the murder he had personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing death (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)). The People also charged two one-year enhancements for service of prior prison terms. (Former § 667.5, subd. (b), as amended by Prop. 83, § 9.) A jury found Diaz guilty of murder and found the firearm enhancement allegation true. On Diaz’s motion for a new trial, the court reduced the conviction to voluntary manslaughter (§ 192, subd. (a)) and substituted a firearm enhancement that applies to manslaughter (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). (See § 1181, subd. 6.) The court then sentenced Diaz to prison for an aggregate term of 23 years. In February 2022, after the Legislature amended the murder statutes to narrow the scope of accomplice liability for felony murder and to eliminate the natural and probable consequences theory of murder liability, Diaz filed a petition for relief under former section 1170.95, which was later renumbered section 1172.6…