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Filed 6/4/21 P. v. Mathis CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

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 This opinion has not been certified for publication 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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

WILLIAM HENRY MATHIS III,

Defendant and Appellant.

E074933

(Super.Ct.No. CR50362)

OPINION

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Ronald L. Taylor, Judge. 

(Retired judge of the Riverside Super. Ct. assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to 

art. VI, § 6 of the Cal. Const.) Affirmed with directions.

Jean Ballantine, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and 

Appellant.

Xavier Becerra and Rob Banta, Attorneys General, Lance E. Winters, Chief 

Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Eric A. 
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Swenson, Felicity Senoski and Lynne G. McGinnis, Deputy Attorneys General, for 

Plaintiff and Respondent.

In 1994, defendant and appellant William Henry Mathis III was convicted of first

degree felony murder, the jury found true a robbery-murder special circumstance 

allegation, and the trial court sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole; in 

1996, this court affirmed the judgment. (People v. Mathis (July 30, 1996, E015611) 

[nonpub. opn.] (Mathis).) In 2019, defendant petitioned for resentencing pursuant to 

Penal Code1section 1170.95 (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 4), a statute recently enacted by 

Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.).2 The trial court granted a motion to 

dismiss the petition, finding that defendant was not eligible for relief because he was a 

major participant in the felony murder and acted with reckless indifference to human life 

during its commission. We affirm.

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 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2

 “Senate Bill 1437 ‘amend[ed] the felony murder rule and the natural and 

probable consequences doctrine, as it relates to murder, to ensure that murder liability is 

not imposed on a person who is not the actual killer, did not act with the intent to kill, or 

was not a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference 

to human life.’ (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, § 1, subd. (f).) . . . [S]ection 1170.95 . . . provides 

a procedure by which those convicted of murder can seek retroactive relief if the changes 

in the law would affect their previously sustained convictions. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015, 

§§ 2-4.)” (People v. Larios (2019) 42 Cal.App.5th 956, 964, review granted Feb. 26, 

2020, S259983.)
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I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND AND FACTS3

In the process of robbing a video store in June 1993, defendant and a codefendant

shot and killed the clerk. According to a customer, the two were in the store when he left 

around 9:48 p.m. The clerk’s friend arrived at the store a little after 10:00 p.m. and heard 

a “pop.” She saw defendant standing behind the counter and the codefendant standing in 

the doorway to the storeroom. As she walked toward the counter, the two men left 

through the back door. The friend found the clerk lying on the bathroom floor in the back 

area of the store and called 911 around 10:15 p.m. The clerk died as the result of three 

gunshot wounds to the head. (Mathis, supra, E015611.)

Defendant and his codefendant were apprehended in the early morning hours the 

next day, and gunshot residue samples were taken from their hands. The tests on swabs 

taken from defendant were inconclusive; however, residue from the gloves found in his 

back pants pocket was consistent with someone having worn those gloves while firing a 

gun or handling a recently fired gun. Defendant and his codefendant went to the video 

store with the “tools” to commit a robbery—a pillowcase to carry the money, gloves to 

conceal fingerprints, and a gun to scare or, if necessary, kill the store clerk. (Mathis, 

supra, E015611.)

3 The underlying facts of defendant’s murder conviction are not relevant to our 

analysis, so we recount them briefly, taking them from our nonpublished opinion in 

defendant’s direct appeal, Mathis, supra, E015611. (See People v. Lewis (2020) 

43 Cal.App.5th 1128, 1134, 1138, review granted Mar. 18, 2020, S260598 [In 

determining the sufficiency of a section 1170.95 petition, the court may review the record 

of conviction, which includes the opinion in a defendant’s direct appeal.].)
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Defendant was convicted of first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)), and the jury 

also found true the robbery-murder special circumstance (former § 190.2, 

subd. (a)(17)(i); see current § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A)), as well as an allegation that a 

principal in the robbery was armed with a firearm (§ 12022, subd. (a)(1)). Defendant 

appealed from his conviction contending, inter alia, the evidence was insufficient to 

support the jury’s true finding on the robbery-murder special circumstance allegation. 

(Mathis, supra, E015611.) We concluded the evidence was sufficient to support the 

finding because the evidence supported a finding that both defendant and his codefendant 

shot the clerk and, therefore, both were the actual killers. (Mathis, supra, E015611.) We 

explained, in part: “From the noted evidence, the jury could have found that [defendant] 

was wearing the gloves when he shot [the clerk] which is why the [gun residue] on his 

hands [was] inconclusive. The evidence indicates there [were] approximately 5 to 10 

minutes unaccounted for [in which] each defendant could have fired some of the shots 

that killed [the clerk] and, thus, both were the actual killers.” (Mathis, supra, E015611.) 

Defendant filed habeas corpus petitions raising the same issue, all of which were denied.

On January 8, 2019, defendant filed a petition, in propria persona, for resentencing 

under section 1170.95. Counsel was appointed for him. The prosecution moved to 

dismiss on the grounds defendant “was convicted of murder, with a felony murder special 

circumstance [found] true; also sentenced LWOP in 1994. [¶] And although the jury 

instructions are not in imaging, the law was very clear in 1994, that, in order to find that 
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special circumstance true for at least a non-killer, the jury would have had to find that the 

defendant was a major participant, acting with reckless indifference.” Defense counsel 

objected “for the record” and submitted. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss the 

petition for the reasons stated by the prosecution.4

II. DISCUSSION

Defendant contends the trial court erred by ruling that the jury’s finding on the 

special circumstance conclusively established that he was not eligible for resentencing. 

He argues that the Supreme Court’s decisions in People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 

(Banks) and People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 (Clark) significantly narrowed the 

definition of both “‘major participant’” and “‘reckless indifference to human life,’” so 

that the jury’s pre-Banks and Clark true findings do not establish that he comes within 

that definition.

Recently, however, in People v. Jones (2020) 56 Cal.App.5th 474 (Jones), review 

granted January 27, 2021, S265854,5this court rejected an identical contention. (Id. at 

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 We note the February 28, 2020 minute order reads, “Petition denied.” However, 

after the prosecutor made a “motion to dismiss” the petition, the court stated: “The 

motion to dismiss is granted.” The court’s oral ruling prevails over the discrepant minute 

order. (People v. Hartley (2016) 248 Cal.App.4th 620, 637 [“When there is a discrepancy 

between the record of the court’s oral pronouncement of judgment and the clerk’s minute 

order, the oral pronouncement controls.”].)

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 Review was granted pending consideration and disposition of a related issue. 

(People v. Lewis (Mar. 18, 2020, S260598) [2020 Cal. Lexis 1946] [“May superior courts 

consider the record of conviction in determining whether a defendant has made a prima 

facie showing of eligibility for relief under Penal Code section 1170.95?].”
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pp. 482-485.) We held that “[a] petitioner with a pre-Banks/Clark finding faces the same 

bar to relief under section 1170.95 as a petitioner with a post-Banks/Clark finding. This 

is because Banks and Clark did not create a new rule of law, but rather ‘clarified’ the 

already-existing meaning of the phrases ‘major participant’ and ‘reckless indifference to 

human life’ for purposes of special circumstance allegations under section 190.2, 

subdivision (d).” (Id. at p. 482.) Therefore, “a special circumstance finding under 

section 190.2, subdivision (d) [renders a petitioner ineligible] for relief under section 

1170.95 as a matter of law. This is because a jury has already found them to have 

satisfied the new definition of felony murder under amended section 189. Although they 

were not the actual killer, a jury found them to have been a major participant in the 

underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life.” (Id. at p. 482.)

We readily acknowledge that (1) there is a split of authority on whether a 

defendant must first seek relief under Banks/Clark through a habeas petition before filing 

a section 1170.95 petition (Jones, supra, 56 Cal.App.5th at pp. 482-483), and (2) the 

issue of whether a felony-murder special circumstance finding under section 190.2, 

subdivision (a)(17), made before Banks and Clark precludes a defendant from making a 

prima facie showing of eligibility for relief under section 1170.95 is currently pending 

before the Supreme Court. (People v. Strong (Mar. 10, 2021, S266606) [2021 Cal. Lexis 
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1701].) Unless and until the Supreme Court tells us otherwise, we adhere to our opinion 

in Jones. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(e).)

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Furthermore, “in the wake of Banks and Clark, no mandatory language was added 

to the CALCRIM instructions on special circumstances under section 190.2, 

subdivision (d). Optional language describing the Banks and Clark factors was added. 

(CALCRIM No. 703.) . . . [¶] [However,] the optional language that was added to the 

CALCRIM instructions in light of Banks and Clark does not require the jury to consider 

any additional questions or resolve any additional issues. As to reckless indifference, the 

optional language states, ‘When you decide whether the defendant acted with reckless 

indifference to human life, consider all the evidence. No one of the following factors is 

necessary, nor is any one of them necessarily enough, to determine whether the defendant 

acted with reckless indifference to human life. Among the factors you may consider are,’ 

followed by a list of the factors identified in Clark. (CALCRIM No. 703.) The optional 

language concerning major participant is identical. The only requirement imposed on the 

jurors is that they consider all the evidence. Everything else is optional (the jury ‘may’ 

consider the listed factors, among others). (CALCRIM No. 703.) [¶] . . . The issues 

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 Earlier, in People v. Law (2020) 48 Cal.App.5th 811, review granted July 8, 

2020, S262490, we held: “[T]he trial court erred by concluding the special circumstance 

finding, on its own, rendered Law ineligible for relief [under section 1170.95] . . . .” 

(Id. at p. 825.) Nonetheless, we concluded the error was harmless because the record of 

the defendant’s conviction demonstrated he was an active participant and acted with 

reckless disregard to human life. (Ibid.) To the extent Law held that a superior court 

considering a petition under section 1170.95 may not conclude as a matter of law that the 

petitioner is ineligible for relief based on the jury’s true finding on a special circumstance 

allegation under section 190.2, subdivision (d), that decision is inconsistent with Jones. 

We agree with the analysis in Jones.
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resolved and questions answered by juries before and after Banks and Clark will be 

exactly the same.” (Jones, supra, 56 Cal.App5th at pp. 486-487 (conc. opn. of

Menetrez, J.).)

As we suggested in Jones, supra, 56 Cal.App.5th at pages 478-479, a person in 

defendant’s position is not wholly without a remedy. He or she may challenge prior 

special circumstance findings in a habeas proceeding. (See, e.g., In re Scoggins (2020) 

9 Cal.5th 667, 676-683.) We express no opinion as to whether in defendant’s case there 

might be some procedural bar to such a proceeding at this point.

We therefore conclude the trial court properly dismissed defendant’s 

section 1170.95 petition.

As a result, we conclude defendant’s counsel was not ineffective for failing to 

reference Banks and Clark in the written reply or for only objecting “for the record” and 

submitting at the hearing on the petition. Given our conclusion that defendant was not 

entitled to relief under section 1170.95 as a matter of law, it is not reasonably probable 

that defendant would have received a more favorable outcome had his counsel referenced 

Banks and Clark in the written reply or argued differently at the hearing. (See People v. 

Ledesma (1987) 43 Cal.3d 171, 217-218 [ineffective assistance of counsel claim requires 

the defendant to “‘show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s 

unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different’”].)
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III. DISPOSITION

The order dismissing defendant’s section 1170.95 petition without a hearing is

affirmed. The superior court clerk is directed to correct the February 28, 2020 minute 

order to reflect the petition was dismissed, instead of denied.

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

McKINSTER

J.

We concur:

RAMIREZ

P.J.

MENETREZ

J.