California v. Marquez
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Mario Marquez appealed a postjudgment order striking his petition for resentencing made pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.95, enacted as part of Senate Bill No. 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.). The trial court struck Marquez’s petition on the ground that Senate Bill No. 1437 violated article II, section 10, subdivision (c) of the California Constitution by amending Proposition 7 (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 7, 1978)) and Proposition 115 (Ballot Pamp., Primary Elec. (June 5, 1990)). In 2007, a jury found Marquez guilty of first degree murder, second degree robbery, carjacking, willful evasion of a police officer with reckless disregard for the safety of persons or property, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. The trial court sentenced Marquez to a term of 70 years 8 months to life in prison. A panel of the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment (modified to strike the one-year sentence enhancement under Penal Code 667.5(b). Marquez argued that retroactive application of Senate Bill No. 1437 by means of the petitioning process of section 1170.95 conflicted with the Victims’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008 (Marsy’s Law) and violated the separation of powers doctrine.
The Court of Appeal reversed with directions to consider the petition on the merits, and partially published its opinion because the issues of whether Senate Bill No. 1437 conflicted with Marsy’s Law and whether Senate Bill No. 1437 violated the separation of powers doctrine have not been addressed in a published opinion of this division. On those issues, the Court concluded Senate Bill No. 1437 neither conflicted with Marsy’s Law nor violated the separation of powers doctrine. In the nonpublished part of the opinion, the Court concluded Senate Bill No. 1437 did not unconstitutionally amend Proposition 7 or Proposition 115.
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