P. v. Santana CA3
A jury found defendant Alejandro Santana guilty of the robbery-carjacking murder of a car salesman while on a test drive in 2000. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and we affirmed his convictions on appeal. (People v. Santana (June 10, 2010, C060202) [nonpub. opn.] (Santana).)
Defendant appealed from the summary denial of his postjudgment petition to vacate his murder conviction under Penal Code section 1170.95, arguing that the trial court deprived him of his statutory right to the assistance of counsel and his right to due process by summarily denying his petition without giving counsel an opportunity to be heard. He also argued the trial court could not rely on this court’s recital of an alleged unadjudicated fact in Santana—that he was the actual killer—to conclude as a matter of law that he was ineligible for relief under section 1170.95.
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