Court Opinion

ID: 9409039
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-14 18:04:04.396846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:48.185482
License: Public Domain

Filed 7/14/23 P. v. Maldonado CA2/5
   NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

                         SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                        DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE,                                                  B320031

         Plaintiff and Respondent,                           (Los Angeles County
                                                             Super. Ct. No. YA069639)
         v.

JUAN PABLO MALDONADO,

         Defendant and Appellant.

      APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los
Angeles County, Hector M. Guzman, Judge. Reversed and
remanded with directions.
      Jonathan E. Demson, under appointment by the Court of
Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
      Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief
Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior
Assistant Attorney General, Daniel C. Chang and Nicholas J.
Webster, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and
Respondent.
                    I.     INTRODUCTION

      Defendant Juan Pablo Maldonado appeals from the trial
court’s order denying his Penal Code section 1172.61 (former
section 1170.952) petition for resentencing on two voluntary
manslaughter convictions. We reverse.

                     II.   BACKGROUND

      The following background is taken from our prior opinion in
this case:
      “In October 2007, defendant was charged with several
offenses including two counts of murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) arising
from a robbery during which two people were killed.[Fn. omitted.]
Pursuant to a plea agreement, the murder charges were
dismissed and defendant pleaded guilty to, among other charges,
two counts of voluntary manslaughter. (§ 192, subd. (a).) In
June 2014, the trial court sentenced defendant to 25 years, eight
months in state prison.” (People v. Maldonado (Sept. 23, 2020,
B301054) [nonpub. opn.] (Maldonado I).)
      In February 2019, defendant filed a section 1172.6 petition
seeking resentencing on his voluntary manslaughter convictions.
The trial court denied the petition and defendant appealed. We
affirmed the court’s order because section 1172.6 did not apply to

1     All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2     Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered
section 1170.95 to section 1172.6 with no change in text. (Stats.
2022, ch. 58, § 10.) Further references will be to the statute’s
current section number only.

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voluntary manslaughter convictions. (Maldonado I, supra,
B301054.)
       Effective January 1, 2022, Senate Bill No. 775 (Senate Bill
775) amended section 1172.6 to extend eligibility for resentencing
relief to persons convicted of voluntary manslaughter. (Stats.
2021, ch. 551.)
       On March 2, 2022, defendant filed a second section 1172.6
petition for resentencing. The trial court summarily denied the
petition on the ground that it presented “successive” claims that
“were raised and rejected in a prior habeas petition . . . .”
       Defendant timely filed an appeal from the trial court’s
order denying his second section 1172.6 petition for resentencing.

                      III.   DISCUSSION

       Defendant contends, the Attorney General concedes, and
we agree that in light of Senate Bill 775’s amendments to section
1172.6, the trial court erred in denying defendant’s second section
1172.6 petition for resentencing as successive (see People v.
Farfan (2021) 71 Cal.App.5th 942, 946–947 [a second
resentencing petition based on a new legal theory is not
procedurally barred as a successive petition]) and defendant is
entitled to a remand for further proceedings on his voluntary
manslaughter convictions.

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                      IV.   DISPOSITION

       The order denying defendant’s second section 1172.6
petition is reversed and the matter is remanded to the trial court
to conduct further proceedings under section 1172.6.

      NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

                                          KIM, J.

We concur:

             RUBIN, P. J.

             MOOR, J.

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