People v. Williams CA4/2
Opinion
Opinion
INTRODUCTION
Defendant and appellant Curtis John Williams filed a petition for resentencing
pursuant to Penal Code former section 1170.95,1 which the trial court denied. Defendant
appealed, arguing that his petition was improperly denied since he made a prima facie
showing that the provisions of former section 1170.95 applied to him. By opinion filed
October 8, 2020, we affirmed.
On September 28, 2022, the California Supreme Court transferred the matter back to
us with directions to vacate our decision and reconsider the cause in light of Strong, supra,
13 Cal.5th 698 and People v. Lewis (2021) 11 Cal.5th 952 (Lewis). On October 3, 2022, we
ordered our decision vacated and set a briefing schedule.
Defendant now contends the trial court almost certainly based its denial of his
petition on the felony-murder special-circumstance findings. He argues that pursuant to
Strong, the court erred in determining the jury’s true findings on the special circumstance
allegations rendered prior to the decisions in People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 (Banks)
and People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 (Clark), made him ineligible for relief.