People v. Hill CA1/5

BACKGROUND

A.

Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.), which became effective January 1, 2019, raised the level of culpability required for murder liability to be imposed under felony murder and the

All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal 1

Code. As of June 30, 2022, former section 1170.95 was renumbered to section 1172.6. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) We hereafter refer to current code section 1172.6. 1 natural and probable consequences theories. (See Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, §§ 1-2.) Senate Bill 1437 amended the definition of malice in section 188 to provide that “[m]alice shall not be imputed to a person based solely on his or her participation in a crime.” (§ 188, subd. (a)(3); Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 2.)

As a result of these amendments and later Senate Bill No. 775 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2021, ch. 551 § 2, eff. January 1, 2022), a person convicted of murder is now eligible for resentencing if they were convicted “of felony murder or murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine or other theory under which malice is imputed to a person based solely on that person’s participation in a crime.” (§ 1172.6, subd. (a).) However, a person…