People v. Mendez CA2/4

BACKGROUND

In 2002, a jury convicted defendant of first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and found true the allegation that defendant committed the murder for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)). The trial court sentenced defendant to 25 years to life for murder (§ 190, subd. (a)), and a consecutive 10 years for the true finding under the gang enhancement statute (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C)).

1 Subsequent references to statutes are to the Penal Code.

2 In his direct appeal in 2003, defendant challenged (1) the sufficiency of evidence supporting his conviction for murder; (2) the legality of the jury instruction on the gang enhancement; and (3) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s true finding on the gang enhancement. We rejected these arguments and affirmed the judgment. (People v. Francisco Mendez (Apr. 25, 2003, B161165) [nonpub. opn.].) On November 1, 2021, defendant filed a postjudgment petition to have his murder conviction vacated and to be resentenced on any remaining counts. (§ 1172.6, subd. (a).) In his petition, defendant alleged that he was convicted of first degree murder…