People v. Vasquez CA3

BACKGROUND

Defendant’s Convictions On July 8, 1997, a jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder (§§ 187/189) with a robbery special circumstance (§ 190, subd. (a)(17)), robbery (§ 211), assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)), and attempted robbery (§§ 664/211). The jury also found true that defendant had personally used a knife. (§ 12022, subd. (b).) As relevant here, the jury was instructed on multiple theories of murder, including felony murder. The murder verdict form did not require the jury to identify the theory on which it relied. We upheld these convictions in an unpublished decision issued in 1998. (People v. Vasquez (Oct. 16, 1998; C026759) [nonpub. opn.].) Legal Background Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill No. 1437), which became effective on January 1, 2019, was enacted “to amend 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 the intent to kill, or was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life.” (Stats. 2018,…