People v. Silva
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In 2014, Silva and codefendants were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder arising out of a home invasion robbery. Silva, who was involved in transporting stolen items after the robbery was underway, was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. In 2019, Silva obtained resentencing as a non-killer under Penal Code 1170.95; his murder convictions were vacated and he was resentenced to a term of 16 years based on two in-concert home-invasion robberies plus six home-invasion robberies or attempted robberies based on the number of robbery victims alleged in the original information. He was never tried or convicted of any of those robberies, nor did the jury make findings against him as to any of them.
The court of appeal reversed in part, stroking one of the robberies. The resentencing judge had the discretion to redesignate more offenses than one in lieu of each of Silva’s murder convictions, to more closely approximate the gravity of his conduct. There is no constitutional bar to the redesignation of additional counts, if the petitioner receives notice, an opportunity to be heard and the prosecution bears its burden of proving guilt on the redesignated counts; on the record, that standard was met. The court otherwise rejected Silva’s claims of constitutional error and concluded that remand was unnecessary.
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