People v. Montanez CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

A. Defendant’s Trial and Direct Appeal In February 2014, defendant went to the home of Norman Benavides (Benavides) with two acquaintances, Miguel Marquez and Aaron Gallardo (Gallardo).2 They were ostensibly there to buy marijuana from Benavides, but instead, they beat and shot Benavides and fled with a bag. Defendant was charged with murder and robbery and a trial jury found him guilty in May 2018. As pertinent here, the jury found the murder was in the first degree and found true allegations that the killing was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of a robbery and burglary. (§ 190.2, subds. (a)(17)(A) & (a)(17)(G).)

1 Undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Penal Code. 2 This court dismissed Gallardo’s appeal from the denial of his petition for resentencing in November 2023.

2 On direct appeal, defendant argued certain evidence should have been suppressed, the trial court improperly failed to consider his ability to pay certain fines and assessments, and he was entitled to relief under section 1172.6. This court affirmed the judgment without ruling on defendant’s eligibility for relief under section 1172.6, explaining at…