People v. Quesada CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

Alvaro Quesada, convicted of special-circumstances murder for a crime he committed when he was 24 years old, appeals from the superior court’s order denying his motion for a hearing under People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261 to make a record of mitigating youth-related evidence for a future youth offender parole hearing. Quesada argues Penal Code section 3051, the statute governing youth offender parole hearings, violates his right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the California Constitution by excluding from parole consideration 18- to 25-year-old young adults sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Quesada also argues a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for an offender under the age of 26 is cruel or unusual punishment under article I, section 17 of the California Constitution. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 2000 a jury convicted Quesada on one count of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1 and one count of conspiracy to commit murder (§§ 182, 187, subd. (a)) for killing his cousin’s husband. The jury found true…