People v. Smith CA2/4

discussion on page 5: After we modified this opinion in response to Smith’s petition for rehearing, the Attorney General also moved for rehearing, arguing Smith is guilty of murder under current law under the transferred intent doctrine. Under the transferred intent doctrine, “a defendant who shoots with the intent to kill a certain person and hits a bystander instead is subject to the same criminal liability that would have been imposed had ‘the fatal [shot] reached the person for whom [it was] intended.” (People v. Bland (2002) 28 Cal.4th 313, 321.) The transferred doctrine is irrelevant to the present inquiry, however. The prosecutor did not argue transferred intent at trial and the jury was not instructed on that theory. But the jury was instructed on the now-discarded natural and probable consequences doctrine. As noted above, this leaves open the possibility that the jury convicted Smith of murder on count four under the natural and probable consequences doctrine. We therefore remand the matter for an evidentiary hearing on that count. This modification does not change the judgment. The petition for rehearing is…