In re Arrue CA2/5
Petitioner Andrew Arrue (defendant) was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 2006, after a jury convicted him of first degree murder with a felony-murder special-circumstance finding (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subds. (a)(17), (d)). Years later, the Supreme Court decided People v. Banks (2015) 61 Cal.4th 788 (Banks), which explains when section 190.2 authorizes a special circumstance finding for a felony murder defendant convicted as an aider and abettor. In 2017, defendant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, arguing the jury’s special circumstances finding must be vacated because it could have been based on either of two alternate theories, only one of which is valid under Banks. We agree.
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