People v. Howard
Annotate this Case
In 2010, an 80-year-old woman was shot and killed during a burglary of her home. Three defendants, including Howard, were charged. Howard was convicted of first-degree murder with a felony-murder special circumstance and a finding that he had been armed in the commission of the offense. The court sentenced Howard to life without the possibility of parole. In 2018, the court of appeal reversed the felony-murder special circumstance, concluding the evidence was insufficient to show Howard—who was not the actual killer—acted with reckless indifference to human life.
On remand, Howard moved to vacate his murder conviction under Penal Code section 1170.95, effective 2019. The statute provides that where a murder conviction was charged generically and the underlying felony was not charged, the trial court redesignates the “underlying felony for resentencing purposes.” The parties agreed and the court vacated Howard's murder conviction. The court redesignated Howard’s conviction as first-degree burglary, sentenced Howard to the aggravated six-year prison term for the burglary, designated the offense a violent felony, and imposed a one-year arming enhancement. The court of appeal affirmed. The evidence at trial established that the defendants burglarized a residence. Redesignating the conviction as first-degree burglary did not violate Howard’s constitutional rights. The court properly designated the offense a violent felony and imposed an arming enhancement.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.