People v. Razon CA4/2

BACKGROUND

In 1995, a jury found defendant guilty of several offenses, including second degree

murder in violation of section 187. In 1996, the trial court sentenced him to a prison term

of 15 years to life.

Defendant appealed his conviction to this court. (People v. Razon (Feb. 26, 1998,

E018625) [nonpub. opn.].) He raised several arguments, including insufficiency of the

evidence to support the jury’s conclusion that he committed provocative act murder. We

corrected an error in the abstract of judgment and affirmed the judgment in all other

respects.

On January 1, 2019, Senate Bill No. 1437 became effective. (Stats. 2018,

ch. 1015.) That measure amended sections 188 (defining malice) and 189 (defining

degrees of murder) to limit the reach of the felony-murder rule in cases of first and

second degree murder and eliminated the natural and probable consequences liability for

murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015.) The bill also added section 1172.6, which creates a

procedure for convicted murderers who could not be convicted under the law as amended

to retroactively seek relief.

Section 1170.95 was renumbered as section 1172.6 without change in the text, effective June…