P. v.Gann CA4/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 8, 2024
DocketD081313
StatusUnpublished

This text of P. v.Gann CA4/1 (P. v.Gann CA4/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
P. v.Gann CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed 1/8/24 P. v.Gann CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D081313

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCD207862)

NATHANIEL MARCUS GANN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Polly H. Shamoon, Judge. Affirmed. Doris M. LeRoy, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Alan L. Amann and Christopher P. Beesley, Deputy Attorneys General for Plaintiff and Respondent. INTRODUCTION

In 2009, a jury convicted Nathaniel Marcus Gann1 of first degree murder in the shooting death of her stepfather, but found she did not intentionally and personally discharge a firearm causing death, or commit the murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait. In 2020, Gann petitioned to vacate her conviction and be resentenced under Penal Code

section 1170.95 (now 1172.6).2 The trial court denied her relief at the prima facie stage without the appointment of counsel. We concluded this was prejudicial error in People v. Gann (Sept. 22, 2021, D077769) [nonpub. opn.] (Gann I), and reversed and remanded to the trial court with instructions to appoint counsel for Gann and allow the parties to provide additional briefing on the petitions. On remand, the trial court appointed counsel for Gann, and again found she failed to make a prima facie showing she was eligible for relief and denied her petition. Gann appeals once more, asserting our prior opinion in Gann I was law of the case and precluded the trial court’s denial of her petition at the prima facie stage and that, in the alternative, the court erred on the merits because Gann was not ineligible for relief as a matter of law. This time we affirm. We disagree our prior opinion was law of the case, and we conclude the jury instructions and verdicts conclusively establish that the jury convicted Gann of first degree murder under a theory she was a

1 At the prima facie review hearing, Gann’s attorney informed the trial court she preferred “she, her, hers” pronouns.

2 All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered section 1170.95 as section 1172.6, with no substantive change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) We refer to the statute throughout as section 1172.6.

2 coconspirator to murder who acted with the specific intent to kill. That makes her ineligible for relief as a matter of law. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND I.

The 2009 Murder Trial3 Gann and her sister, Brae Hansen, were convicted of the murder of their stepfather, Timothy MacNeil, by separate juries in a joint trial. At the time of the murder, Hansen was living with MacNeil in San Diego, while Gann was attending college in Arizona. Gann and Hansen’s mother had died the year before and MacNeil had started a new relationship. MacNeil told Hansen she needed to prepare to move out when she turned 18. This angered Hansen, and she and Gann plotted to kill MacNeil. They initially planned to hire a hitman to stage a home invasion robbery, but were unable to find one to hire. Hansen claimed she no longer wanted to go through with the murder when the hitman plan fell through, but Gann came to MacNeil’s house early one morning and told Hansen they were going to proceed with a modified version of the plan whether she wanted to or not. MacNeil was not home when Gann arrived, but returned later that day and was confronted by Gann dressed in black and wearing a mask. Hansen claimed she walked downstairs moments later and saw Gann pointing a gun at MacNeil. Gann

3 The following summary of the factual and procedural background is taken from this court’s unpublished opinion in Gann I, supra, D077769. We grant both Gann’s unopposed request for judicial notice of the record in Gann’s prior appeal in Gann I, and Gann’s unopposed motion to augment the record with her reply brief filed in the trial court in support of her section 1172.6 petition.

3 zip-tied Hansen’s hands and took her into another room. Hansen heard a struggle followed by several gunshots. MacNeil was shot in the back of the head and died instantly. Gann’s cellmate testified that Gann said she and Hansen decided to “ ‘take care of’ ” MacNeil. Gann told her cellmate that Gann wore a mask and “ ‘acted like it was a robbery.’ ” Gann tied up Hansen and MacNeil, but MacNeil managed to get free. As Gann was tying up MacNeil again, she accidentally fired the gun and hit MacNeil. Gann then shot MacNeil in the head and fled the scene. Gann presented a defense that suggested Hansen was the actual killer. The jury was instructed that murder required malice aforethought (CALCRIM No. 520); there were two theories of first degree murder⎯the murder was willful, deliberate, and premeditated and the murder was committed by lying in wait (CALCRIM No. 521); on evidence of an uncharged conspiracy to commit murder (CALCRIM No. 416); and on liability for the natural and probable consequence of a coconspirator’s acts (CALCRIM No. 417). The jury was not instructed on either the felony murder rule or on aiding and abetting on any theory, including on the natural and probable consequences doctrine of aiding and abetting. Gann’s jury convicted her of first degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)), but found not true the allegations that Gann committed the murder while lying in wait (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)) or that she intentionally and personally discharged a firearm causing death in the commission of the murder (§ 12022.53, subds. (d), (e)(1)). Hansen’s jury also convicted her of first degree murder and found true the allegations that she committed the murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait and she was vicariously armed with a firearm. The trial court sentenced Gann to a prison term of 25 years

4 to life. This court affirmed the judgment of conviction in Gann’s direct appeal. (People v. Gann (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 994.) II. The 1172.6 Petitions In January 2020, Gann filed a petition for resentencing pursuant to section 1172.6. She averred that she was convicted of first degree murder pursuant to the felony murder rule or the natural and probable consequences doctrine and she could not now be convicted of first degree murder because of the legislative changes to sections 188 and 189 made effective January 1, 2019. She further stated she was not the actual shooter, was acquitted of that allegation by a jury, and the evidence demonstrated that the murder took place in a manner of surprise or she was not present and was determined to be liable in another unknown way. Gann requested the appointment of counsel to represent her on her petition. In July 2020, the trial court, without appointing counsel for Gann, found Gann failed to make a prima facie showing that she was entitled to relief because she “was the actual shooter and planned the crime” and denied the petition. About one week later, Gann filed another petition for resentencing, in which she again stated the jury’s not true finding on the gun enhancement indicated she was not the actual shooter, and again requested the appointment of counsel. In August 2020, the court, again without appointing counsel, found Gann failed to make a prima facie showing that she was entitled to relief “[b]ased on [the] facts of the case” and denied the petition.

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P. v.Gann CA4/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/p-vgann-ca41-calctapp-2024.