People v. Ortega

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 12, 2025
DocketG063201
StatusPublished

This text of People v. Ortega (People v. Ortega) 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
People v. Ortega, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 6/12/25

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G063201

v. (Super. Ct. No. 00CF1418)

JESSE BANDA ORTEGA, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Jonathan S. Fish, Judge. Affirmed. Pauline E. Villanueva, 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, Collette C. Cavalier and Ksenia Gracheva, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * * “When a defendant who was under 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense for which the defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole has been incarcerated for at least 15 years, the defendant may submit to the sentencing court a petition for recall and resentencing.” (Pen. Code, § 1170, subd. (d)(1)(A).) 1 In 1996, Jesse Banda Ortega was 17 years old when he shot a gun at four people in a car. A jury found him guilty of one murder and three attempted murders. The court imposed a sentence of 25 years to life, plus 17 years. As originally sentenced, Ortega would not have been eligible for parole until 42 years after the date of his offenses (when he will be 59 years old). However, the Legislature subsequently modified the timing of parole hearings for youthful offenders. (§ 3051.) As the operative statute now provides, an eligible defendant who committed his or her controlling offense before the age of 26 is eligible for a youth offender parole hearing starting at his or her 15th, 20th, or 25th year of incarceration. (§ 3051.) In 2023, Ortega filed a section 1170 (d)(1) petition. Although Ortega’s sentence is not LWOP, he claimed it is the functional equivalent of LWOP, and therefore under equal protection principles, he should be eligible for relief under the statute. The trial court denied the petition. We agree with the court’s ruling. By operation of law, Ortega “is now serving a life sentence that includes a meaningful opportunity for release during his 25th year of incarceration. Such a sentence is neither LWOP nor its functional equivalent.” (See People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261, 279– 280 (Franklin).) Thus, we affirm the trial court’s order.

1 Further statutory references are to the Penal Code. We will generally omit the word subdivision. We will also generally refer to “life without the possibility of parole” as LWOP or life without parole. 2 I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In August 1996, Ortega was involved in a gang-related shooting in Santa Ana when he was 17 years old. Ortega was a passenger in a car when he fired multiple shots at four people who were in another car. One of the four intended victims was shot in the heart and died. Another victim was shot in the back and survived. In April 2001, the People filed an amended information charging Ortega with one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and related firearm enhancements. In May 2001, a jury found Ortega guilty of the charged crimes, and found true the firearm enhancements. The trial court sentenced Ortega to a total aggregate sentence of 25 years to life, plus a determinate term of 17 years (effectively 42 years to life). In September 2023, Ortega filed a petition seeking recall and resentencing. (§ 1170 (d)(1).) The trial court summarily denied the petition in a written order. Citing Graham v. Florida (2010) 560 U.S. 48, 75 (Graham), the court found that Ortega “has ‘some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.’ As such, Petitioner was not sentenced to the functional equivalent of LWOP and is therefore ineligible for relief.” In October 2023, Ortega filed a notice of appeal. 2

2 We take judicial notice that after Ortega filed the instant appeal, he was provided with a youth offender parole hearing. (See Evid. Code, §§ 452 (c), 459 (c) [an appellate court on its own motion may take judicial notice of the official acts of executive departments].) According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s website, on September 19, 2024, Ortega was denied parole for five years. 3 II. DISCUSSION Ortega claims he is serving the functional equivalent of LWOP, and under constitutional principles, he should be permitted to submit a section 1170 (d)(1) petition for resentencing. We disagree. Ortega had a meaningful opportunity for release during his 25th year of incarceration; therefore, he is not serving the functional equivalent of an LWOP sentence. This appeal involves issues of statutory interpretation and constitutional law, so our review is de novo. (Raef v. Appellate Division of Superior Court (2015) 240 Cal.App.4th 1112, 1120 [“The interpretation and constitutionality of a statute present issues of law”].) In this discussion, we will: A) review the development of constitutional principles regarding youthful offenders; B) summarize how those principles have been statutorily implemented; and C) analyze and apply the various legal issues in this appeal.

A. Constitutional Principles In July 2010, the United States Supreme Court found that an LWOP sentence imposed upon a juvenile defendant who did not commit a homicide offense violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. (Graham, supra, 560 U.S. at p. 82.) The Court held: “A State is not required to guarantee eventual freedom to a juvenile offender convicted of a nonhomicide crime. What the State must do, however, is give defendants like Graham some meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.” (Id. at p. 75.) In June 2012, the United States Supreme Court expanded its

4 prior holding in Graham. (Miller v. Alabama (2012) 567 U.S. 460 (Miller). In Miller, the Supreme Court now prohibited mandatory LWOP sentences for all juvenile defendants, regardless of what crime they may have committed, including capital murder. (Id. at p. 477.) The Court explained: “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features—among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences.” (Ibid.) In August 2012, the California Supreme Court held that a sentence of 110 years to life for a juvenile convicted of attempted murder was unconstitutional because the defendant’s parole eligibility date fell outside his natural life expectancy and was therefore the “functional equivalent” of an LWOP sentence. (People v. Caballero (2012) 55 Cal.4th 262, 268 (Caballero).) “Consistent with . . . Graham, . . . we conclude that sentencing a juvenile offender for a nonhomicide offense to a term of years with a parole eligibility date that falls outside the juvenile offender’s natural life expectancy constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.” (Ibid., italics added.) The California Supreme Court later clarified that under Miller, its reasoning in Caballero also applied to homicide offenses. (See Franklin, supra, 63 Cal.4th at pp. 275–276.)

B. Statutory Changes Effective January 1, 2013, the Legislature passed Senate Bill No. 9 (2011-2012 Reg. Sess.), adding section 1170 (d) to the Penal Code, which is the subject of this appeal. (Stats. 2012, ch. 828, § 1; § 1170, former subd. (d)(2)(A)–(J), now subd. (d)(1)–(13).) The enabling legislation “was inspired by concerns regarding sentences of life without parole for juvenile offenders.” (In

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Related

People v. Caballero
282 P.3d 291 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
Miller v. Alabama
132 S. Ct. 2455 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Raef v. Appellate Division of the Superior Court
240 Cal. App. 4th 1112 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
People v. Franklin
370 P.3d 1053 (California Supreme Court, 2016)
People v. Alsafar
8 Cal. App. 5th 880 (California Court of Appeal, 2017)
In re Kirchner
393 P.3d 364 (California Supreme Court, 2017)
People v. Contreras
411 P.3d 445 (California Supreme Court, 2018)
In re Cook
441 P.3d 912 (California Supreme Court, 2019)
Auto Equity Sales, Inc. v. Superior Court
369 P.2d 937 (California Supreme Court, 1962)
People v. Dunbar
209 Cal. App. 4th 114 (California Court of Appeal, 2012)
Contra Costa Cnty. Children & Family Servs. Bureau v. David B. (In re David B.)
219 Cal. Rptr. 3d 108 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2017)
Graham v. Florida
176 L. Ed. 2d 825 (Supreme Court, 2010)

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Ortega, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ortega-calctapp-2025.