Three cases that have resulted in resentencing under changes to California murder law
Retroactive changes to a law called the felony murder rule have led to the resentencing and release of three people previously convicted of murder, manslaughter and attempted murder in Stanislaus County.
None fired the guns in the cases that led to their convictions, but it didn’t matter at the time. Under the felony murder rule and natural and probable consequences doctrine, accomplices could be considered just as culpable because they were taking part in an inherently dangerous criminal action that led to a killing or near killing.
California Senate Bill 1437 changed that.
Enacted in 2019, it amended the felony murder rule to require prosecutors to prove a defendant is the actual killer, a major participant who acted with reckless indifference to human life or someone who aided and abetted with intent to kill. A second bill later applied the same standards to manslaughter and attempted murder.
Both bills were retroactive, giving thousands of inmates across the state the opportunity to petition for resentencing.
From January 2019 to mid-November, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office received 133 petitions for case reviews, some dating back as far as the 1970s. Ninety-four of the petitions have been denied or otherwise dismissed and 36 are pending a decision or are in the appeal process.
The three people to have their conviction vacated were robbery participants.
Pablo Mora was a getaway driver in a 2013 home invasion robbery attempt of an illegal marijuana growing operation at a south Modesto home. His co-defendants, Rojelio and Aureliano Vivero, kicked in the door of the house and Rojelio fatally shot 22-year-old Emmanuel Andrade, who was at the home visiting relatives.
All the defendants took plea deals. Mora was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, among other charges.
Stanislaus County Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Zahner said his office stipulated in its response to his petition that he would not be convicted under the new felony murder rule. Mora served almost nine years of his original 15-year, eight-month sentence before being released this summer.
In a 2009 robbery, Ernesto Morales didn’t stay in the vehicle when his co-defendant shot Harinder Sanghera, a clerk at a South Ninth Street convenience store.
Zahner said Morales and Mark Burgess drove from Merced to Modesto to commit the robbery and sat in their vehicle outside for more than an hour, debating who should go inside.
Ultimately, both went in. They ordered Sanghera to give them money but he refused. Burgess shot him twice. The co-defendants fled and stayed at large for two years before they were arrested.
Morales pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Morales’ petition for resentencing was denied, but an appeals court reversed the trial court’s denial on the basis that there was insufficient evidence Morales had reckless indifference to human life. In January, Judge Dawna Reeves vacated Morales’ murder conviction and resentenced him to four years for conspiracy to commit a robbery, with a one-year enhancement for committing a felony with a principal who was armed with a firearm.
Three days later, Morales was released from prison for time served. He’d been incarcerated for just over 10 years.
Darlene Fouse was the getaway driver for David Anthony Silva, David Wayne Morrison and Anthony Lawrence Martinez, who’d committed 12 armed home invasion robberies in Stanislaus and Merced counties in 2003. On the night the four were caught, Fouse led Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase while one of her co-defendants fired at two of the pursuing deputies.
In addition to convictions for her role in one of the robberies, Fouse was convicted of two counts of attempted murder on a peace officer. For that, she received two consecutive sentences of 15 years to life in prison.
Fouse’s case went before Judge Ricardo Córdova in Stanislaus Superior Court, where prosecutors tried to prove she aided and abetted the shooter. Following a two-day evidentiary hearing, Córdova determined Fouse did not have the specific intent to kill, striking her two attempted murder convictions.
Having spent 19 years in prison, Fouse was released from prison a week later.
This story is part of a two-part series. To read more in-depth coverage about the law changes click here.
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
