P. v. Cummings CA2/5
Years ago, a trial jury found Milton Cummings III (defendant) guilty of murder and found true a special circumstance allegation, which triggered a life without parole sentence. More recently, defendant filed a petition to vacate his murder conviction in light of amendments Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) made to the Penal Code’s murder statutes. The trial court summarily denied the petition without first appointing counsel, relying on this court’s prior holding that the jury was told it must find defendant intended to kill the murder victim in order to find the special circumstance true. We initially affirmed, but our Supreme Court granted review and transferred the matter back to us with instructions to vacate our opinion and reconsider the cause in light of People v. Lewis (2021) 11 Cal.5th 952 (Lewis). Our prior opinion is hereby vacated, and the dispositive question that we now decide is whether the failure to appoint counsel for defendant was harmless.
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