P. v. Hurtado
Annotate this Case
Defendant appealed an order denying his petition for resentencing under section 1172.6. In 2017, the Second Appellate District affirmed his conviction for attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and attempted shooting at an occupied vehicle. The jury found Defendant personally used a firearm. The trial court sentenced Defendant to an aggregate prison term of 23 years and eight months. In February 2022, Defendant filed a petition for resentencing under section 1172.6. The trial court denied his petition without appointing counsel or holding a hearing.
The Second Appellate District affirmed. The court explained that the record supports the trial court’s decision to deny the petition because Defendant was not eligible for relief. He alone attempted to commit murder. As the attempted murderer, he is “ineligible for relief” as “a matter of law,” and “there is no reasonable probability Defendant would have obtained a more favorable result if counsel had been appointed and given the opportunity to file a memorandum supporting the petition”; consequently, the trial court’s errors were “harmless.” But here, harmless error is a misnomer. The trial court committed no error. But in cases like this one, the harmless error doctrine provides a reasonable method to avoid protracted hearings in past cases that are final and should stay that way. This also frees overburdened courts to decide current cases.
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.