People v. Juarez CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 1992, appellant Frank Juarez was convicted by jury of first degree murder (Pen. Code,1 § 187) and kidnapping (§ 207, subd. (a)). In addition, the jury found true a special circumstance which alleged that the murder had occurred during the course of a kidnapping (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). Juarez was sentenced to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. In 2021, Juarez filed a petition for resentencing under former section 1170.95, now section 1172.6.2 The trial court denied Juarez’s petition, reasoning that the record demonstrated that Juarez was likely the actual killer, but at a minimum, was a major participant in the underlying felony who had acted with reckless indifference to human life. This court affirmed the trial court’s order in an unpublished opinion, while further observing that Juarez’s petition was facially deficient. (See People v. Juarez (Mar. 23, 2022, F083314) [nonpub. opn.], at p. 3.) The matter was remanded back to this court for reconsideration following our Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Strong (2022) 13 Cal.5th 698. We vacated our prior decision with the following directions on remand: “following the filing of an amended…