People v. Wallace CA3 ( 2022 )


Menu:
  • Filed 1/4/22 P. v. Wallace CA3
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
    California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for
    publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication
    or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
    IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
    THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT
    (Sacramento)
    ----
    THE PEOPLE,                                                                                C092426
    Plaintiff and Respondent,                                      (Super. Ct. No. 95F02739)
    v.
    JILES LEE WALLACE,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    In 1997, the trial court found defendant Jiles Lee Wallace guilty of first degree
    felony murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1 with two special circumstance
    enhancements that the murder occurred during an attempted robbery and burglary
    (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)) for which defendant received a sentence of life without the
    possibility of parole. 2 We upheld this judgment in an unpublished decision issued
    December 21, 1998. (Wallace, supra, C027310.)
    1   Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.
    2  Defendant was also convicted of burglary, attempted robbery, and the trial court found
    true another sentencing enhancement that defendant had used a firearm in connection
    1
    Because of case developments associated with the sentencing of youthful
    offenders, defendant received a new sentencing hearing on January 27, 2016. At the
    conclusion of that hearing, the trial court sentenced defendant, in pertinent part, to 25
    years to life for the murder.
    Thereafter, on February 13, 2019, defendant petitioned the trial court for
    resentencing based upon changes to the felony-murder rule under recently enacted Senate
    Bill No. 1437 (Reg. Sess. 2017-2018) (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2019)
    (Senate Bill 1437). Following the appointment of counsel and briefing, the trial court
    denied defendant’s petition in a written order without a hearing. While finding defendant
    had made a prima facie showing of eligibility for relief, the court found defendant was a
    “major participant” who had “acted with reckless indifference to human life.”
    On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erred in conflating the procedures
    associated with section 1170.95, subdivisions (c) and (d), including engaging in
    impermissible factfinding. He reasons the trial court correctly determined he had made a
    prima facie showing entitling him to relief, but erred in determining he had acted with
    “reckless indifference to human life” precluding his eligibility for relief. While it appears
    that the trial court may have erred in how it reached its decision denying defendant’s
    petition for resentencing, we concur with the People that a review of defendant’s record
    of conviction establishes as a matter of law that he is ineligible for resentencing.
    Accordingly, we will affirm the trial court’s order.
    I. BACKGROUND
    A.     The Underlying Conviction
    We take the facts from our 1998 unpublished opinion affirming defendant’s
    convictions in Wallace, supra, C027310:
    with the crime. (People v. Wallace (Dec. 21, 1998, C027310) [nonpub. opn.] (Wallace).)
    However, neither these convictions, nor defendant’s sentence related to them, are relevant
    to this appeal.
    2
    Around 3:00 a.m. on November 16, 1994, Scott Lewis was awakened by armed
    intruders in his apartment and shot to death by one of them. Lewis shared the apartment
    with his sister Kowana, her six-month-old child, and her boyfriend Billy Stack (who was
    not there at the time).
    Less than a week before the shooting, Larry Freeman had accused Stack of
    stealing a stereo out of Freeman’s car. Shortly thereafter Stack was shot in the leg by an
    acquaintance of Freeman’s, while Freeman was present.
    Albert Rhine, who earlier entered a negotiated guilty plea to voluntary
    manslaughter stemming from Lewis’s death, testified about his involvement in the
    incident. Rhine stated that on the evening of the murder, he was with Freeman and Chris
    Dupree. Freeman had talked about Stack threatening Freeman’s mother, in retaliation for
    being shot in the leg. Rhine, Freeman, and Dupree set out to pick up defendant at his
    apartment. On the way to defendant’s apartment, Freeman stated he wanted Stack “taken
    care of”; Dupree replied that he would handle it.
    At defendant’s apartment, with Shawn Shorter present, Freeman told defendant
    that someone “was messing with his mom” and that he “wanted to go over and do
    something about it.” Freeman and defendant went into a bedroom and returned with
    three handguns; the guns were inspected by all. Freeman also said that he had a safe
    stored at Stack’s apartment, which contained drugs and maybe some money. If the others
    backed Freeman up, he said, they could have the contents of the safe.
    Borrowing two cars (so Freeman’s car could not be traced), the five men arrived at
    Stack and Lewis’s apartment. Freeman stayed downstairs and instructed the others
    (defendant, Dupree, Rhine, and Shorter) to let Dupree handle things. While walking up
    to the apartment, defendant stated that if he was going in, he was going to get something
    out of it, like a TV or VCR. Defendant, Dupree, and Shorter were each armed with one
    of the handguns from defendant’s apartment.
    3
    When the four men barged into the apartment, Lewis was on the couch.
    Defendant, with a mask over his head and the gun in his hand, told Lewis to get down
    and everything would be all right. Defendant and Rhine then went into Kowana’s
    bedroom to look for the safe, while Shorter and Dupree, who had been behind defendant
    and Rhine, stayed with Lewis with guns drawn. While defendant and Rhine were
    “tearing the place up” looking for the safe in another bedroom, they heard three shots.
    All the intruders ran from the apartment; Lewis reached for Rhine, but defendant grabbed
    Rhine’s shoulder and said let’s go.
    When they reached the cars, Freeman yelled at Dupree for shooting Lewis.
    Dupree later explained that was the way people did it in Louisiana.
    An eyewitness saw the two borrowed cars at the scene, saw three black males and
    one white male go into Lewis’s apartment complex, heard shots fired, and saw the four
    men return to the cars, one of whom was tentatively identified as defendant.
    On January 28, 1997, the court determined defendant was guilty of first degree
    murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and found true the enhancement allegations that defendant had
    used a gun (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) and that the murder was committed while engaged in
    burglary and attempted robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). The court also found defendant
    guilty of attempted robbery (§§ 664/211) and burglary (§ 459) and found true the
    allegations that he had used a gun during the commission of these crimes (§ 12022.5,
    subd. (a)). We affirmed this judgment on appeal. (Wallace, supra, C027310.) While
    defendant successfully petitioned for a new sentence that included the possibility of
    parole, the substance of his underlying convictions and related enhancements did not
    change.
    B.     The Section 1170.95 Resentencing Proceedings
    On February 13, 2019, defendant filed a section 1170.95 petition for resentencing
    based upon changes to the felony-murder rule brought about by Senate Bill 1437 and
    requesting the appointment of counsel. This petition averred in pertinent part that
    4
    defendant had been convicted of first degree murder under a felony-murder theory, but
    that he could not now be convicted of murder because of changes to sections 188 and
    189. Pertinent to defendant’s issues on appeal, the defendant also averred that he “was
    not a major participant in the felony or [that he] did not act with reckless indifference to
    human life during the course of the crime or felony.” The court appointed counsel and
    briefing ensued. The People’s opposition included in pertinent part that the true finding
    on the section 190.2 subdivision (a)(17) enhancements precluded defendant’s ability to
    show that he was eligible for relief. In response, defendant argued the court should grant
    his petition given his youth at the time of the murder, the older age of his codefendants,
    and that other factors concerning his upbringing, etc., supported relief.
    Thereafter, on May 1, 2020, the trial court denied defendant’s petition in a written
    order without a hearing. While finding defendant had made a prima facie showing of
    eligibility for relief, the court found defendant was a “major participant” who had “acted
    with reckless indifference to human life.” Instead of highlighting the true finding on the
    enhancement allegations to make this determination, the court relied on information from
    defendant’s record of conviction:
    “1. The Defendant proceeded to trial, waiving his right to a jury trial. In
    sentencing the Defendant, the sentencing judge stated ‘There was evidence provided that
    Mr. Wallace was actively involved in getting the weapon that was used in this and he was
    very active in the 211 against the -going into the apartment and trying to find the safe’
    (RT 3-5: 26-36:3)[;]
    “2. The four males who entered the apartment did so to ‘teach the male a lesson’
    (RT 36:4) as well as to commit a robbery[;]
    “3. The Defendant was one of the first young males to enter the apartment while
    wearing a mask, pointed a gun at the victim and told him to get to the ground. (Dec 18,
    2014 Probation report P.2)[;]
    5
    “4. The Trial Judge made a factual finding the Defendant ‘was not what I would
    consider a passive participant [or] had a minor role in this, because of the fact that [he]
    was the one that was actively involved in helping get the weapon and the fact that he was
    very active in going into the apartment and setting the whole situation up that resulted in
    the killing’ (RT []:10-16).”
    The court’s order continued: “Petitioner has requested this Court to take into
    consideration his youth and potential duress defense. Having done so, [t]his court still
    finds the Petitioner to have been a major participant who acted with reckless indifference
    to human life as defined in CALCRIM 703. [¶] It is ordered that Petitioner Jiles Lee
    Wallace’s . . . Section 1170.95 Petition for vacating of his first degree murder conviction
    in Case No. 95F02739 is Denied.”
    Defendant timely appealed.
    II. DISCUSSION
    A.     Legal Background
    Senate Bill 1437, which took effect on January 1, 2019, limited accomplice
    liability under the felony-murder rule and eliminated the natural and probable
    consequences doctrine as it relates to murder, to ensure that a person’s sentence is
    commensurate with his or her individual criminal culpability. (People v. Gentile (2020)
    
    10 Cal.5th 830
    , 842-844.) Relevant to felony murder, Senate Bill 1437 added section
    189, subdivision (e) to now provide that “[a] participant in the perpetration or attempted
    perpetration of a felony listed in subdivision (a) in which a death occurs is liable for
    murder only if one of the following is proven: [¶] (1) The person was the actual killer.
    [¶] (2) The person was not the actual killer, but, with the intent to kill, aided, abetted,
    counseled, commanded, induced, solicited, requested, or assisted the actual killer in the
    commission of murder in the first degree. [¶] (3) The person was a major participant in
    the underlying felony and acted with reckless indifference to human life, as described in
    subdivision (d) of Section 190.2.” (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 3.)
    6
    Senate Bill 1437 further added a provision providing a direct avenue for
    defendants previously convicted of felony murder to seek relief: section 1170.95.
    (People v. Gentile, supra, 10 Cal.5th at pp. 843, 847.) “Under section 1170.95, a
    defendant may petition to have his or her conviction vacated when, among other
    conditions, the following apply: ‘The petitioner was convicted of first degree or second
    degree murder following a trial or accepted a plea offer in lieu of a trial at which the
    petitioner could be convicted for first degree or second degree murder’ (§ 1170.95, subd.
    (a)(2)), and ‘[t]he petitioner could not be convicted of first or second degree murder
    because of changes to Section 188 or 189 made effective January 1, 2019’ (§ 1170.95,
    subd. (a)(3)).” (Id. at p. 847.)
    Section 1170.95, subdivisions (b) and (c) create a two-step process for evaluating
    a petitioner’s eligibility for relief. (People v. Lewis (2021) 
    11 Cal.5th 952
    , 960-962.)
    First, the trial court determines whether the petition is facially sufficient under section
    1170.95, subdivision (b). (Lewis, supra, at p. 960.) If the petition is facially sufficient,
    then, the trial court moves on to subdivision (c), appointing counsel (if requested) and
    following the briefing schedule set out in the statute. (Lewis, supra, at p. 966.)
    Following the completion of this briefing, the trial court then determines whether the
    petitioner has made a prima facie showing he or she is entitled to relief. (Ibid.)
    As the Supreme Court recently explained, “[w]hile the trial court may look at the
    record of conviction after the appointment of counsel to determine whether a petitioner
    has made a prima facie case for section 1170.95 relief, the prima facie inquiry under
    subdivision (c) is limited. Like the analogous prima facie inquiry in habeas corpus
    proceedings, ‘ “the court takes petitioner’s factual allegations as true and makes a
    preliminary assessment regarding whether the petitioner would be entitled to relief if his
    or her factual allegations were proved. If so, the court must issue an order to show
    cause.” ’ [Citations.] ‘[A] court should not reject the petitioner’s factual allegations on
    credibility grounds without first conducting an evidentiary hearing.’ [Citations.]
    7
    ‘However, if the record, including the court’s own documents, “contain[s] facts refuting
    the allegations made in the petition,” then “the court is justified in making a credibility
    determination adverse to the petitioner.” ’ ” (People v. Lewis, supra, 11 Cal.5th at p.
    971.)
    B.      Application
    Here, the trial court determined defendant had stated a prima facie showing of
    eligibility (§ 1170.95, subd. (b)) but went on to find defendant was a “major participant”
    who had “acted with reckless indifference to human life.” Defendant argues this was
    impermissible factfinding at a section 1170.95, subdivision (c) stage. Whether the trial
    court actually engaged in factfinding is ambiguous on this record. The People had argued
    defendant was ineligible for relief by virtue of the showing necessary to find the section
    190.2, subdivision (a)(17) enhancements true. Nonetheless, while the court’s ruling
    referenced the jury instruction on those enhancements, the court did not highlight the true
    findings for those enhancements when determining defendant was a major participant
    who had acted with reckless indifference to human life. Rather, the court noted various
    statements contained within the record that would support such a factual finding.
    We concur with the People that the trial court’s decision must be upheld because a
    review of defendant’s record of conviction establishes as a matter of law that defendant is
    ineligible for resentencing. (See People v. Smithey (1999) 
    20 Cal.4th 936
    , 972 [“ ‘ “ ‘[A]
    ruling or decision, itself correct in law, will not be disturbed on appeal merely because
    given for a wrong reason. If right upon any theory of the law applicable to the case, it
    must be sustained regardless of the considerations which may have moved the trial court
    to its conclusion’ ” ’ ”].)
    Following defendant’s court trial, on January 28, 1997, the court found defendant
    guilty of first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) and found true the enhancement
    allegations that defendant had used a gun (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) and that the murder was
    committed while engaged in burglary and attempted robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). In
    8
    order to find the section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17) enhancements true, the trial court
    necessarily determined that defendant was a major participant and that defendant acted
    with reckless indifference to human life. (CALCRIM No. 703.) Thus, these special
    circumstance findings render defendant ineligible for relief. (See, e.g., People v. Allison
    (2020) 
    55 Cal.App.5th 449
    , 457-458 (Allison) [the defendant’s admission of felony-
    murder special circumstance rendered him ineligible for relief under § 1170.95]; People
    v. Nunez (2020) 
    57 Cal.App.5th 78
    , 90-91, review granted Jan. 13, 2021, S265918 [the
    defendant’s kidnapping special circumstance rendered him ineligible for relief under §
    1170.95 because the jury necessarily found the defendant participated in the kidnapping
    with the intent to kill the victim, or that the defendant was a major participant in the
    underlying felony].)
    Defendant argues he should be entitled to proceed with his section 1170.95
    petition notwithstanding the felony-murder special circumstance because subsequent
    developments in the law have placed the continuing validity of those findings into
    question for purposes of the section 1170.95 inquiry. The Attorney General disagrees.
    Whether a true felony-murder special circumstance finding under section 190.2,
    subdivision (a)(17) should preclude a defendant from making a prima facie showing of
    entitlement to relief if that finding predated the Supreme Court’s decisions in People v.
    Banks (2015) 
    61 Cal.4th 788
     and People v. Clark (2016) 
    63 Cal.4th 522
     is an issue that
    has been the subject of great debate and is presently pending before the California
    Supreme Court. (See People v. Strong (Dec. 18, 2020, C091162) [nonpub. opn.], review
    granted March 10, 2021, S266606.) Until we receive further guidance from the
    California Supreme Court, we find Galvan and Allison more persuasive on this issue than
    the cases to the contrary. (Compare People v. Galvan (2020) 
    52 Cal.App.5th 1134
    ,
    review granted Oct. 14, 2020, S264284 (Galvan); Allison, supra, 
    55 Cal.App.5th 449
    [enhancement disqualifying responding to York]; People v. Jones (2020) 
    56 Cal.App.5th 474
    , review granted Jan. 27, 2021, S265854 [following Allison]; People v. Nunez, supra,
    9
    
    57 Cal.App.5th 78
     [following Allison], review granted; People v. Murillo (2020)
    
    54 Cal.App.5th 160
    , review granted Nov. 18, 2020, S264978; People v. Gomez (2020)
    
    52 Cal.App.5th 1
    , review granted Oct. 14, 2020, S264033, with People v. Torres (2020)
    
    46 Cal.App.5th 1168
    , review granted June 24, 2020, S262011; People v. Smith (2020)
    
    49 Cal.App.5th 85
     [enhancement not disqualifying], review granted July 22, 2020,
    S262835; People v. York (2020) 
    54 Cal.App.5th 250
     [following Torres and criticizing
    Galvan], review granted Nov. 18, 2020, S264954.)
    In light of this, we do not accept defendant’s attempts to impugn the preclusive
    effect of those findings. As explained in Allison, “Nothing in the language of section
    1170.95 suggests it was intended to provide redress for allegedly erroneous prior
    factfinding. In particular, subdivision (a)(3) of section 1170.95 says nothing about
    erroneous prior findings or the possibility of proving contrary facts if given a second
    chance. Rather, it requires that the petitioner could not be convicted of murder because
    of the changes to sections 188 and 189, not because a prior fact finder got the facts
    wrong. The purpose of section 1170.95 is to give defendants the benefit of amended
    sections 188 and 189 with respect to issues not previously determined, not to provide a
    do-over on factual disputes that have already been resolved.” (Allison, supra,
    55 Cal.App.5th at p. 461.)
    Because the true findings on the section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17) enhancements
    preclude defendant from showing that he could not now be convicted of first degree
    felony murder following the changes brought about by Senate Bill 1437, the trial court
    did not error in determining he was ineligible for relief.
    III. DISPOSITION
    The trial court’s order denying defendant’s petition for resentencing under section
    1170.95 is affirmed. Should defendant successfully challenge the section 190.2,
    subdivision (a)(17) findings via habeas corpus, nothing in this decision precludes
    defendant from again seeking relief under section 1170.95.
    10
    /S/
    RENNER, J.
    We concur:
    /S/
    HULL, Acting P. J.
    /S/
    KRAUSE, J.
    11
    

Document Info

Docket Number: C092426

Filed Date: 1/4/2022

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 1/4/2022