Majority
I
On October 25, 2000, at approximately 11:00 p.m., petitioner helped his friend, Brian Keith Rhea (Rhea), to "pull" or extract methamphetamine
3 The factual background is taken in part from our opinion on petitioner's direct appeal from conviction ( People v. White (July 12, 2005, E034877) 2005 WL 1625015 [nonpub. opn.] ( White ) ), and from the record of petitioner's trial. We take judicial notice of the record in E034877 and trial proceedings in case No. RIF94362. (Evid. Code, § 452, subd. (d).)
Petitioner and Rhea walked back to the truck but could not find the keys. Petitioner borrowed Burtness's truck. He intended to take Rhea to the hospital, but Rhea wanted to go home. Petitioner was also concerned the hospital might get the truck's license place and he would be tracked down. They went to Rhea's trailer, where Loerch met them. Rhea was in worse pain. Petitioner told Loerch to take Rhea to the hospital and Rhea would say
On July 26, 2017, the Supreme Court issued the following order: "The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is ordered to show cause before the Second Division of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, when the matter is placed on calendar, why petitioner is not entitled
The dissent contends that the California approach to assessing "inherent dangerousness to human life" is to consider " 'whether the felony "by its very nature ... cannot be committed without creating a substantial risk that someone will be killed ...." [Citations.]' ( People v. Howard (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1129 , 1135, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 ( Howard ).)" (Dis. opn. post , at p. 693.) In making that assessment, courts look to " ' "the elements of the felony in the abstract , 'not the "particular" facts of the case,' i.e., not to the defendant's specific conduct." ' " (Dis. opn. post , at p. 693.) On that basis, the dissent posits, if there is a way for a felony to be committed without a high probability of death, it cannot be " 'inherently dangerous to human life' " or act as "a predicate for second degree felony murder." (Dis. opn. post , at p. 694.)
In Howard , for example, our Supreme Court found that a violation of Vehicle Code section 2800.2, " 'driving in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property while fleeing from a pursuing police officer' " ( Howard , supra , 34 Cal.4th at p. 1134, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 ), specified that the act included without limitation, "driving while fleeing or attempting to elude a pursuing peace officer during which time either three or more violations that are assigned a traffic violation point count under Section 12810 occur, or damage to property occurs." ( Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (b).) Our Supreme Court observed that violations assigned points under Vehicle Code section 12810 that "can be committed without endangering human life include driving an unregistered vehicle owned by the driver ..., driving with a suspended license ..., driving on a highway at slightly more than 55 miles per hour when a higher speed limit has not been posted ..., failing to come to a
These cases are distinguishable. First, as we explain, post , the determination of "inherent dangerousness to human life" in this methamphetamine manufacturing case is based on expert testimony as to a scientific process in chemistry and physics. It is not, as the dissent suggests, a "hypothetical" evaluation. The " 'defendant's specific conduct,' " Howard , supra , 34 Cal.4th at p. 1135, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 , was not considered in making this determination. The elements of the felony, manufacturing methamphetamine, were considered but the abstract was made concrete by the expert testimony on the nature and processes involved in the manufacture of the drug. In so doing, the trial court, and we, concluded that felonious manufacturing of methamphetamine is inherently dangerous to human life for purposes of the second degree felony-murder rule. Taking evidence of the dangerousness is supported in precedent discussed herein, including by our Supreme Court. ( People v. Patterson (1989) 49 Cal.3d 615 , 262 Cal.Rptr. 195 , 778 P.2d 549 .)
Moreover, the determination that an individual evading police pursuit in a willful and wanton manner, for example, might still do so without acting with inherent dangerousness to human life arises from the nature of the specified traffic violations in the statute. Thus, failure to signal a turn or to "sedately" speed slightly above the posted speed limit may not be inherently dangerous. In the case of feloniously manufacturing methamphetamine ( Health & Saf. Code, § 11379.6, subd. (a) ), however, there are no such "safe" violations. Suggesting that some individuals have produced many batches of methamphetamine without fire or explosion simply recounts an exercise in experience-yet, gaining experience generally extracts a price. Unlike the case of avoiding police pursuit where any driver regardless of experience could operate his or her vehicle "relatively safely," there is no suggestion that the
Third, one of the dissent's main premises regarding the instant case (as opposed to the bigger picture of second degree felony murder in general) is that conceivably there are ways to manufacture methamphetamine "relatively" safely, meaning that the felony is not a basis for felony murder. We will address this, but we point out here that we rejected this argument in our prior decision in James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 270, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 (relying on Morse , supra , 2 Cal.App.4th at p. 646, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 343 ): " 'Appellant argues that because there are " conceivable [ ] ways of violating the statute that do not necessarily pose a threat to human life" the crime is not inherently dangerous. ... [¶] We must view the elements of the offense, not the particular facts of the instant offense. In viewing the elements our task is not to determine if it is possible (i.e., "conceivable") to violate the statute without great danger. By such a test no statute would be inherently dangerous. Rather the question is: does a violation of the statute involve a high probability of death? [Citation.] If it does, the offense is inherently dangerous.' " Under this "any conceivable" test, any of the long-standing cases finding inherent danger to human life could be invalidated. But, as noted above, in viewing the elements of methamphetamine manufacture, we (and the trial court) also viewed expert testimony on the scientific process of the manufacture, rendering a more
'any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... that-
'(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
'(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or
'(b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.'
Section 16(b), the residual clause, is the part of the statute at issue in this case." ( Dimaya , supra , 138 S.Ct. at p. 1211.) The U.S. Supreme Court found 18 U.S.C.S. section 16 structurally similar to 18 U.S.C.S. section 924(e)(2)(B) (ACCA) and its residual clause in subdivision (e)(2)(B)(ii), and subject to the analysis in Johnson despite the absence of any enumerated felonies in the INA's subdivision (b). ( Dimaya , at pp. 1215-1216.) Applying that analysis, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, finding the INA's residual clause unconstitutionally vague. ( Dimaya , at pp. 1212, 1223.)
In comparison, California's former second degree felony-murder rule, which the California Supreme Court has interpreted as broad statutory language despite its roots in common law ( Chun , supra , 45 Cal.4th at pp. 1181-1188, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 ), "makes a killing while committing certain felonies murder without the necessity of further examining the defendant's mental state." ( Id . at p. 1182, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 .) "First degree felony murder is a killing during the course of a felony specified in section 189, such as rape, burglary, or robbery. Second degree felony murder is 'an unlawful killing in the course of the commission of a felony that is inherently dangerous to human life but is not included among the felonies enumerated in section 189 ....' [Citation.]" ( Chun , at p. 1182, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 .)[8]
8 Specifically, the version of section 189 in effect at the time of petitioner's offense stated in pertinent part, "All murder which is perpetrated by means of ... is murder of the first degree. All other kinds of murders are of the second degree."
As we discuss herein, the California approach also admits of the possibility of taking expert testimony and scientific evidence on the issue of determining whether a felony is inherently dangerous to human life, in the appropriate case.
This comparison highlights some of the differences between the approach taken to analyze prior felonies under the ACCA's residual clause and the approach taken to analyze a current felony under the pre-2019 second degree felony-murder rule. For one thing, the California rule used the actual elements of the crime to create an "abstract" of the felony while the ACCA approach takes two branches. First, the enumerated crimes (burglary, arson, extortion, or involving the use of explosives) are analyzed by hypothesizing a generic crime encompassing how that crime would theoretically be committed across a multitude of jurisdictions and states. Second, crimes under the residual clause (unenumerated crimes involving conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another) are analyzed according to the state-based elements of the individual offense. California's former second degree felony-murder rule had no such dichotomy. In fact, discussed further, post , the second degree felony-murder rule did not relate to or even contain any specifically enumerated felonies, as does section 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) of the ACCA. The U.S. Supreme Court discussed the need for this approach. The emphasis in the ACCA is on prior convictions . That is, specifically, enhancements for prior qualifying violent felonies or drug offenses under the ACCA rests solely on the existence of those prior convictions, not the conduct underlying them. ( Johnson , supra , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. at p. 2562.) The Court also considered "the utter impracticability of requiring a sentencing court to reconstruct, long after the original conviction, the conduct underlying that conviction," using as an example a conviction on a guilty plea with no record of the underlying facts. ( Ibid . ) Those prior convictions could be in
10 We also agree with the dissent that the more recent U.S. Supreme Court review in Dimaya , supra , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1204 , finds it unnecessary to assess unenumerated residual clause crimes in the light of enumerated crimes. That is because Dimaya assesses the INA's reliance on the residual clause definition of " 'crime of violence' " in 18 U.S.C.S. section 16, which does not enumerate any specific crimes. (See discussion, ante .) That does not change our point that the ACCA and the INA each respectively define a single term between their elements clauses and residual clauses (with or without enumerated crimes)-either a "violent felony" (ACCA) or a "crime of violence" (INA). Both do so to analyze prior convictions for the purpose of effectuating either the ACCA or the INA. California Penal Code section 189 on the other hand, defines two separate crimes-first degree and second degree murder, from which the felony murder rules arise, for the purpose of structuring a trial (or plea, or dismissal) with the attendant admission of evidence, argument, and jury deliberation to arrive at a current conviction that is its own end. While those portions of the ACCA and the INA may be structurally similar, section 189 is not.
11 The dissent questions how an ordinary person could be expected to know, or have notice, that an offense had a "high probability" of death in this case if the answer "was not knowable by the Supreme Court" (Dis. opn. post , at p. 695) and had to be remanded. Yet, as discussed immediately post , matters are routinely remanded to the superior court for evidentiary hearings. The point here is that California's approach, established in part by our Supreme Court in Patterson , includes considering evidence on the issue of inherent dangerousness in appropriate cases.
Investigator Salisbury also testified that the residue liquid or "waste," such as Coleman fuel, can be saved because it contains leftover dissolved methamphetamine that has not been recovered. The waste is sometimes re-gassed, or is heated to evaporate it off and recover the residue methamphetamine left behind. Another alternative is to use a "shaker jar" method in which an acid is slowly dropped into the waste liquid to convert the methamphetamine into a solid.
Investigator Salisbury further testified that "the chances of having a lab fire and explosion at any site is 1 in 5." He also testified that "the most common cause of meth lab explosions from a solvent is either from the initial extraction phase or the later, the solvent out phase where you actually heat up a solvent."[13]
13 The dissent also suggests that technological advances might develop a way to make methamphetamine manufacturing less dangerous to human life, invalidating the second degree felony-murder rule under Howard . Yet, there are many obsolete laws and legal maxims that fell by the wayside due to technological evolution. (See, e.g., Ruddell and Decker, Train Robbery: A Retrospective Look at an Obsolete Crime (2017) 42 Crim. Just. Rev. 333, 2 [check kiting as a type of bank fraud less frequent today due to advances in electronic benefit transfers (EBT) and debit cards].) That still did not invalidate a conviction for the law violated at the time of commission. In the case of methamphetamine manufacturing, we could consider a method of production more prevalent today than at the time of petitioner's fatal fire, though not universal. The newer method is called "shake and bake" or "one pot" methamphetamine laboratories. "Generally, these laboratories are small-scale, easy to conceal, and produce two ounces or less of methamphetamine per batch. The ingredients, which are common household items (e.g. pseudoephedrine /ephedrine tablets, lithium batteries, camp fuel, starting fluid, cold packs, and drain cleaner), are mixed in a container, such as a plastic soda bottle. This provides a portable method of producing small amounts of methamphetamine. 'One-pot' laboratories are extremely dangerous , and , in many cases , cause fires , which can lead to injury and death ." (Drug Enforcement Admin., U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment (Oct. 2017) pp. 74-75, italics added.) Thus, the ingredients remain hazardous: lithium scavenged from batteries, volatile liquids, and caustic lye, subject to fires and explosions when mixed. Absent actual evidence to the contrary, we do not see this particular technological "advance" as an improvement to the dangerousness to human life inherent in methamphetamine manufacturing.
In James , Chambers , and Sykes , the Court concentrated on the level of risk posed by the crime in question, focusing on comparison to the closest analog among the enumerated offenses in the ACCA in James ; and on statistics in Chambers and Sykes . (
Dissent
Had our Legislature listed methamphetamine manufacture among the crimes that can serve as a predicate for first degree felony murder, White would be guilty of murder with no claim that the crime of conviction was unconstitutionally vague. The Legislature would have provided notice to the public and adequately guided the courts. But there is no statutory list of predicate crimes for second degree felony murder. A defendant such as White may find out whether his crime qualifies after he committed it, when a court determines whether the crime, taken in the abstract, fits the amorphous inherent-dangerousness-to-life standard.
When it decided Johnson v. United States (2015) --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. 2551 , 192 L.Ed.2d 569 , the United States Supreme Court held that a law is unconstitutionally vague if it "require[s] courts to assess the hypothetical risk posed by an abstract generic version of the offense." ( Welch v. United States (2016) --- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 1257 , 1264, 194 L.Ed.2d 387 .) This was a "new rule" of constitutional law. ( Id. at p. 1264.)
Following Johnson , our Supreme Court set an order to show cause in our court for the Attorney General to show why White "is not entitled to reversal of his second degree felony murder conviction because the reasoning set forth in Johnson ... renders the California second-degree [felony] murder rule unconstitutionally vague." Our Supreme Court cited Professor Evan Tsen Lee's law review article, Why California's Second-Degree Felony-Murder Rule Is Now Void for Vagueness (2015) 43 Hastings Const. L.Q. 1 , UC Hastings Research Paper No. 158. Thereafter, in a different case, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a reasoned decision explaining that, for purposes of allowing a defendant to file a second federal habeas corpus petition, the defendant had advanced "a plausible position" that California's second degree felony-murder statute was unconstitutional under Johnson . ( Henry v. Spearman (9th Cir. 2018) 899 F.3d 703 , 711.)
I conclude that under Johnson , California's second degree felony-murder law is unconstitutionally vague because it requires courts to assess the hypothetical risk posed by an abstract generic version of the offense.
The Court held that "[t]wo features of the residual clause conspire to make it unconstitutionally vague." ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2557.) The first feature was that evaluation of the prior crime depended upon an abstract inquiry about the nature of the crime, a framework known as the "categorical approach." ( Ibid. ) That approach tied the assessment of a crime's riskiness to "a judicially imagined 'ordinary case' of a crime," not to how a particular offender committed it. ( Ibid . ) In determining whether a crime carried a sufficient risk of danger to qualify under the residual clause, a court was to imagine the "ordinary case" of the crime and then evaluate its risk. ( Ibid. ) Johnson 's problem with the ordinary case construct was that it required an "abstract inquiry" rather than one based on the defendant's actual facts: "The residual clause ... requires application of the 'serious potential risk' standard to an idealized ordinary case of the crime. Because 'the elements necessary to determine the imaginary ideal are uncertain both in nature and degree of effect,' this abstract inquiry offers significantly less predictability than one '[t]hat deals with the actual, not with an imaginary condition other than the facts.' " ( Id. at p. 2561 ; see also id. at p. 2563 [prior Supreme Court opinions rejected vagueness challenges to the residual clause based on the imprecision of the
1 Importantly as well, apart from Johnson 's two-pronged test, the Supreme Court rejected the principle, indicated by some of its prior cases, that " 'a statute is void for vagueness only if it is vague in all its applications.' " ( Johnson , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2561.) This principle has been applied in California as a federal constitutional requirement. (See, e.g., People v. Morgan (2007) 42 Cal.4th 593 , 606, 67 Cal.Rptr.3d 753 , 170 P.3d 129 .) Before Johnson , the apparent need to prove across-the-board vagueness might have been an impediment to raising or applying a constitutional vagueness challenge to the second degree felony-murder law.
Our Supreme Court's cases not only indicate that the hypothetical "possibility" of committing the offense without danger to life need not be the "ordinary case," but the cases have not required that the possibility be common at all. For instance, the Court has reasoned that possession of a sawed-off shotgun is not inherently dangerous because the possessor may have that firearm as an heirloom, curio, or keepsake rather than as a weapon. (See Satchell , supra , 6 Cal.3d at p. 42, 98 Cal.Rptr. 33 , 489 P.2d 1361 [statute "makes no distinction between the innocent 'collector' and the hardened criminal"].) That logic did not depend on how common it is for a sawed-off shotgun to be kept as an heirloom, only that it is possible to do so. (Cf. District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) 554 U.S. 570 , 625, 128 S.Ct. 2783 , 171 L.Ed.2d 637 [short-barreled shotguns are "not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes"].)
Our second degree felony-murder law differs from the residual clause in Johnson because our analysis requires judges to cogitate on various possible means of committing the offense rather than on the ordinary case of the offense. In my view, this distinction is not meaningful to constitutional vagueness, as each inquiry requires "a judge-imagined abstraction" ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2561 ) that is untethered to the conduct of the particular defendant. This is the domain of legal interpretation by lawyers and judges, not of fair notice to ordinary people. (See, e.g., Howard , 34 Cal.4th at p. 1141, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 (conc. & dis. opn. of Brown, J.) [disagreeing with majority on ground that "if any offense should easily qualify as inherently dangerous, Vehicle Code section 2800.2 certainly would"], pp. 1141-1148, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 (dis. opn. of Baxter, J.) [same].)
B. Indefinite Standard
For a felony to be inherently dangerous to human life, our law requires that the abstract version of the offense involved " 'a high probability that death will result.' " ( Chun , supra , 45 Cal.4th at p. 1207, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 [quoting People v. Hansen (1994) 9 Cal.4th 300 , 309, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 609 , 885 P.2d 1022 , overruled on another ground in Chun , supra , at p. 1199, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 ];
METHAMPHETAMINE MANUFACTURE AS AN ILLUSTRATION OF INDETERMINACY
Petitioner White's offense, manufacturing methamphetamine, provides a good illustration of the indeterminacy of our state's second degree felony-murder inquiry. The majority concludes that "manufacturing methamphetamine in an unprofessional laboratory is inherently dangerous to human life." (Maj. opn., ante , at pp. 684-85.) I do not necessarily disagree with this statement, which makes the application of second degree felony murder to methamphetamine manufacture seem to be an easy case. But I am not convinced that the majority is answering the right question.
Our Supreme Court's "possible means" approach to second degree felony murder requires us to consider not the means by which defendant White's cohort actually committed the offense-cooking the substance in a cramped unprofessional laboratory-but whether the offense, taken in the abstract, possibly could be committed in a way that is not inherently dangerous to human life. I see two ways that this felony illustrates Johnson 's point about the malleability of an abstract felony inquiry.
The second way that this crime illustrates Johnson 's concerns is that the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine "encompasses the initial and
5 (See Walter White ( Breaking Bad )-Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_White_(Breaking_Bad)> [as of Apr. 25, 2019].) The fictional White was a trained chemist who for a time manufactured methamphetamine in a professional laboratory.
THE MAJORITY OPINION
As laid out in the preceding sections, my view is that our second degree felony-murder law is unconstitutionally vague under Johnson because it has a defendant's guilt depend on a court's evaluation of a hypothetical risk posed by an abstract generic version of the offense. Today's majority opinion eschews arguing the wholly contrary view. Rather than offer a full-throated defense of California's second degree felony-murder rule, the majority emphasizes that it is holding only that " this record presented before us in this case" does not support a finding of constitutional vagueness. (Maj. opn., ante , at p. 675.)[25]
7 See also majority opinion, ante , at page 671 ["the petition must be denied on this record"], p. 674 ["on this record, we do not find unconstitutional vagueness"], p. 686, fn. 16 ["[a]gain, our decision here is based on the record of this case"], p. 690 ["[t]he due process faults the United States Supreme Court found ... are not implicated here, on this record"], p. 690 ["consideration has been in the light of the record .... Given that record, we cannot find that he is entitled to a reversal of his conviction under Johnson ."]
Regardless of whether the majority's "as applied" approach is even a viable possibility, it is important to note that the majority's view here leaves open void-for-vagueness challenges to our state's second degree felony-murder rule as applied to other offenses and other records. Under this view, our state is left not merely with cases where the parties argue about the result of applying the "high probability of death" standard categorically to particular crimes, but where they also contest whether that abstract inquiry reaches some undefined level of unacceptable vagueness to be constitutionally void on the particular record about the particular offense.
Putting the availability of the "as applied" approach aside, I disagree with three ways in which the majority opinion attempts to distinguish Johnson and find methamphetamine manufacture inherently dangerous.
A. The Alleged Structural Differences Between Our Law and the Residual Clause
In an attempt to distinguish California's second degree felony-murder rule from the federal ACCA residual clause struck down in Johnson , the majority alleges some differences between the two laws. (Maj. opn., ante , at pp. 680-81.) Though the majority ultimately states that "these differences do not form the basis of our opinion" ( Id. at p. 681), I will nevertheless explain why these differences are not relevant to the vagueness inquiry.
8 Dimaya involved 18 U.S.C. § 16 , the federal criminal code's definition of "crime of violence" that contained a residual clause the same as the ACCA's clause but no list of enumerated crimes. ( Dimaya , supra , 138 S.Ct. at p. 1211.) The Court concluded that " Johnson tells us how to resolve this case" and that "just like ACCA's residual clause, § 16(b) 'produces more unpredictability and arbitrariness than the Due Process Clause tolerates.' " ( Id. at p. 1223.)
V.
PEOPLE v. FRANDSEN
While this appeal was under submission, a panel in another Court of Appeal district held in People v. Frandsen (Apr. 4, 2019) 33 Cal.App.5th 1126 , 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 ( Frandsen ) that the second degree felony-murder rule is not unconstitutionally vague. In attempting to steer California's entire rule around Johnson 's vagueness test, Frandsen takes a different tack than today's majority, which has limited its opinion to " this record presented ... in this case." (Maj. opn., ante , at p. 675.) The reasoning in Frandsen , however, turns on a misunderstanding of one phrase in Johnson .
Frandsen correctly recognizes that in assessing whether a crime is inherently dangerous to human life under the second degree felony-murder rule, a California court "looks to the elements of the felony in the abstract, not at the particular facts of the case. [Citations.]" ( Frandsen , supra , 33 Cal.App.5th at p. 1142, 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 at *10 ). Consequently, Frandsen correctly construes the California cases that have held Johnson inapplicable where a crime requires the court to apply a statutory standard to "real-world facts" underlying the defendant's conviction. ( Frandsen , supra , at pp. 1142-44, 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 , at *10-11 [discussing
This construction of Johnson is wrong. Johnson did not hold that consideration of the statutory elements of the crime immunizes an inquiry from unconstitutional vagueness. This is clear because the Supreme Court's test for applying the residual clause-which it articulated repeatedly, including in Johnson itself-required the consideration of the elements of the crime. (See Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2564 ["To determine whether an offense falls within the residual clause, we consider 'whether the conduct encompassed by the elements of the offense , in the ordinary case, presents a serious potential risk of injury to another.' "], italics added; Dimaya , supra , 138 S.Ct. at p. 1253 ["the Court held that the categorical approach for the residual clause asks 'whether the conduct encompassed by the elements of the offense , in the ordinary case, presents a serious potential risk of injury to another.' "], italics added, original italics omitted; James v. United States (2007) 550 U.S. 192 , 202, 127 S.Ct. 1586 , 167 L.Ed.2d 532 ["we consider whether the elements of the offense are of the type that would justify its inclusion within the residual provision"], original italics; Sykes v. United States (2011) 564 U.S. 1 , 7, 131 S.Ct. 2267 , 180 L.Ed.2d 60 [quoting preceding test from James v. United States ].) That is, in Johnson the Supreme Court invalided a test that involved the "consideration of the statutory elements of the crime." ( Frandsen , supra , 33 Cal.App.5th at p. 1143, 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 at *10, italics omitted.) For this reason, there is no implicit holding of the
9 Johnson also expressly did not invalidate the portion of the ACCA test found immediately before the residual clause that enumerates certain generic crimes, such as burglary, that are covered by the ACCA. ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2563.) That inquiry also depended exclusively on the elements of the defendant's offense, because "[t]o determine whether a past conviction is for one of those offenses, courts compare the elements of the crime of conviction with the elements of the 'generic' version of the listed offense." ( Mathis v. United States (2016) --- U.S. ----, 136 S.Ct. 2243 , 2247, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 ; see also Stokeling v. United States (2019) --- U.S. ----, 139 S.Ct. 544 , 556, 202 L.Ed.2d 512 (dis. opn. of Sotomayor, J.) [discussing the valid elements and enumerated clauses, and the invalid residual clause].)
1 All further citations are to the Penal Code, unless otherwise indicated.
2 After briefing was complete, this court issued a tentative opinion preparatory to oral argument. The tentative opinion was based on the law existing at the time of petitioner's offense and trial. We became aware that effective January 1, 2019, after the tentative opinion issued but before oral argument, Senate Bill 1437 (2017-2018 Reg. Sess.) (SB 1437) amended sections 188 and 189 and created new section 1170.95. The amendments to sections 188 and 189 together change the felony murder rules and the "natural and probable consequences theory" when convicting a participant in a felony for murder, but who did not actually kill the victim. Of interest here, effective January 1, 2019, the second degree felony-murder rule in California is eliminated. However, the change does not automatically apply to convictions that are final before the effective date, like petitioner's. Instead, section 1170.95 establishes a procedure for such defendants to apply to the sentencing superior court to have their murder conviction vacated and be resentenced on any remaining counts, where certain conditions are met. (§ 1170.95, subd. (a)(1)-(3).) In light of these amendments, the Attorney General filed a letter brief here on January 30, 2019, the week before oral argument, formally providing notice to the court and counsel of the changes. At oral argument on February 5, 2019, counsel for petitioner stated that petitioner had not yet petitioned for relief under SB 1437 but would do so within 14 days. The Attorney General pointed out that until petitioner obtains relief, if he does, he is still subject to the second degree felony-murder conviction; if relief is denied, he remains subject to the conviction and the pre-SB 1437 law. Further, the Attorney General represented that the SB 1437 petition process in superior court is just beginning and that early experience is that the process may take months to complete. Counsel for petitioner did not contradict the time issue. We accept it, arguendo, at face value. Additionally, we are still subject to our Supreme Court's show-cause order on petitioner's challenge under Johnson , discussed post . It is worth mentioning that SB 1437 does not address either Johnson or its constitutional vagueness analysis. In other words, this issue is not moot. Accordingly, we will not hold this decision in abeyance but deny the petition on the merits as discussed herein. Finally, after oral argument and while our opinion was circulating for comment, Division 8 of the Second District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in People v. Frandsen (Apr. 4, 2019, B280329) 33 Cal.App.5th 1126 , 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 , 2019 Cal.App. LEXIS 309 ( Frandsen ), in which that court found that California's second degree felony-murder rule is not unconstitutionally vague under Johnson . ( Frandsen , at pp. 1142, 1150-51, 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 , at *9-10-*15.) As described herein, our decision need not reach that ultimate constitutional issue and we offer no opinion as to Frandsen .
Rhea's first attempt, in which he tried to "gas" the methamphetamine out of the Coleman fuel, was unsuccessful and he wanted to try a different method with a hot plate. Petitioner went to Burtness's trailer and asked to use a hot plate. Burtness directed him to the kitchen or back out to the bus. Petitioner returned to the bus with a hot plate, to find Rhea already using an older hot plate with exposed coils. Rhea was using it to boil off saturated Coleman fuel in a bowl on top of the
4 Commonly used for camping, Coleman fuel is a petroleum-based solvent that is highly flammable. Its use in manufacturing methamphetamine is discussed post .
Petitioner was charged in a two-count information with the murder of Rhea (count 1; Pen. Code, § 187 ) and with manufacturing methamphetamine (count 2; Health & Saf. Code, § 11379.6, subd. (a) ). It was further alleged that defendant had one prison prior ( Pen. Code, § 667.5, subd. (b) ) and had a prior conviction for possessing ephedrine for the manufacture of methamphetamine, an enhancement in count 2 ( Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11383, subd. (c) & 11370.2, subd. (b) ). ( White , supra , E034877, at p. 2.)
On count 1, the jury was instructed on second degree implied malice murder and second degree felony murder. The evidence showed that an explosion occurred while defendant and Rhea were manufacturing methamphetamine. Rhea suffered extensive second and third degree burns, and later died of his injuries. The jury found defendant guilty of second degree felony murder; guilty as charged in count 2; and found the prison prior and enhancement allegations true. The jury specially found that the murder "occurred during the commission of the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine" and that the murder "was not committed with implied malice." ( White , supra , E034877, at p. 2.)
Petitioner was sentenced to 19 years to life, consisting of 15 years to life on count 1, plus three years for the enhancement on count 2, plus one year for the prison prior. The upper term of seven years was imposed but stayed on count 2. On direct appeal, we stayed the three-year enhancement on count 2, and otherwise affirmed. ( White , supra , E034877, at pp. 2, 34.)
Petitioner filed his initial petition for writ of habeas corpus on this issue in Riverside Superior Court case No. RIC1512917, after the United States Supreme Court issued its 2015 opinion in Johnson . That petition was denied on November 6, 2015. He then filed his habeas petition, including the instant issue, before us in our case No. E065246. We summarily denied the petition on February 3, 2016. Petitioner then filed his habeas petition before the California Supreme Court, in case No. S233265 on March 24, 2016. Respondent
II
After extensions of time, respondent filed a return on October 12, 2017. After further extensions of time, petitioner filed a traverse by appointed counsel on February 26, 2018,[7] followed by a letter notice on May 8, 2018, as to a new United States Supreme Court case arising from Johnson , Sessions v. Dimaya (2018) --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1204 , 200 L.Ed.2d 549 ( Dimaya ), which petitioner contends is applicable to arguments in his traverse. Petitioner filed a second letter notice on October 17, 2018, as to a new United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit case, Henry v. Spearman (9th Cir. 2018) 899 F.3d 703 ( Henry ), which he also contends is applicable to arguments in his traverse.
DISCUSSION
Petitioner seeks a writ of habeas corpus to vacate his conviction of second degree felony murder. He contends that the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Johnson that the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C.S. section 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) (hereafter ACCA), is unconstitutionally vague and fails to meet the due process requirement of notice to potential defendants but invites arbitrary enforcement by judges, and applies equally to California's second degree felony-murder rule. As we discuss herein, there are some general similarities and some differences between the categorical approach analysis to the ACCA's residual clause that the United States Supreme Court found unconstitutionally vague in Johnson and the abstract analysis under California law for the second degree felony-murder rule. However, on this record, we do not find unconstitutional vagueness in
5 Probably intended to read, "California second-degree felony murder rule[.]"
6 Now, Evan Tsen Lee, Why California's Second-Degree Felony-Murder Rule is Void for Vagueness (2015) 43 Hastings Const. L.Q. 1 (hereafter, Lee).
7 The petition (written in pro. per.) included a single-page claim that Johnson applies. Petitioner, still acting in pro. per., expanded his argument in his reply to respondent's informal response filed in the Supreme Court. The claim is fleshed out by counsel for the first time in the traverse, relying in part on the Lee article. Petitioner's other claim in Supreme Court case No. S233265 is not included in the Supreme Court's order to show cause, and we do not address it here.
Second, California courts have held felonies inherently dangerous to human life. In addition to our prior manufacturing methamphetamine case in People v. James (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 244 , 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 ( James ) discussed post , felonies including poisoning with intent to injure ( People v. Mattison (1971) 4 Cal.3d 177 , 93 Cal.Rptr. 185 , 481 P.2d 193 ); grossly negligent discharge of a firearm ( People v. Clem (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 346 , 92 Cal.Rptr.2d 727 , but see, People v. Robertson (2004) 34 Cal.4th 156 , 17 Cal.Rptr.3d 604 , 95 P.3d 872 ); kidnapping ( People v. Greenberger (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 298 , 68 Cal.Rptr.2d 61 ); and reckless or malicious possession of a destructive device ( People v. Morse (1992) 2 Cal.App.4th 620 , 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 343 ( Morse ) ), are all found inherently dangerous. In addition, other felonies have been found to be inherently dangerous to human life, such as shooting at an inhabited dwelling ( People v. Hansen (1994) 9 Cal.4th 300 , 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 609 , 885 P.2d 1022 ) and shooting at an occupied vehicle ( People v. Tabios (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 1 , 78 Cal.Rptr.2d 753 ) (both Pen. Code, § 246 ). Hansen was overruled and Tabios disapproved by
A. Standard
"A habeas corpus remedy may be available when relief by direct appeal is inadequate. [Citation.]" ( In re Figueroa (2018) 4 Cal.5th 576 , 587, 229 Cal.Rptr.3d 673 , 412 P.3d 356 .) Petitions for a writ of habeas corpus are evaluated by asking whether, if the factual allegations are true, the petitioner would be entitled to relief. ( Ibid . ) " 'Because a petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeks to collaterally attack a presumptively final criminal judgment, the petitioner bears a heavy burden initially to plead sufficient grounds for relief, and then later to prove them. [Citation.]' " ( Ibid. , italics omitted.)
In his traverse, petitioner states for the first time that he is currently released on parole. Accepting this assertion as true, which counsel affirmed at oral argument, as a parolee he is still entitled to habeas review because he remains under restraint, despite not being in physical custody. ( People v. Villa (2009) 45 Cal.4th 1063 , 1069, 90 Cal.Rptr.3d 344 , 202 P.3d 427 ; People v. Cruz-Lopez (2018) 27 Cal.App.5th 212 , 221, 237 Cal.Rptr.3d 873 .)
B. Analytical Framework
In Johnson , the United States Supreme Court considered the statutory ACCA's ban on firearm possession to certain persons, and how its applicability was determined. It observed, "Federal law forbids certain people-such as convicted felons, persons committed to mental institutions, and drug users-to ship, possess, and receive firearms. § 922(g). In general, the law punishes violation of this ban by up to 10 years' imprisonment. § 924(a)(2). But if the violator has three or more earlier convictions for a 'serious drug offense' or a
To do so, a court must "picture the kind of conduct that the crime involves in 'the ordinary case,' and to judge whether that abstraction presents a serious potential risk of physical injury. [Citation.]" ( Johnson , supra , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. at p. 2557.) This goes beyond determining whether creation of risk is an element of the crime; instead, asking whether the crime involves conduct that presents too much risk of physical injury. ( Ibid . ) Complicating the decision, the inclusion of the enumerated crimes of burglary and extortion take the analysis "beyond evaluating the chances that the physical acts that make up the crime will injure someone," given that burglary and extortion do not normally cause physical injury. ( Ibid . )
In that light, the Supreme Court found that, first, the residual clause left grave uncertainly about how to estimate the risk posed by a crime by tying that assessment to a judicially imagined " 'ordinary case' " of a crime instead of real-world facts or statutory elements. It questioned how to imagine a criminal's behavior and, further, how the idealized ordinary case of the crime subsequently plays out in assessing potential risk. ( Johnson , supra , --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. at pp. 2557-2558.) Second, the residual clause left uncertainty about how much risk it takes for a crime to qualify as a violent felony. ( Id . at p. 2558.) The United States Supreme Court found that "[b]y combining indeterminacy about how to measure the risk posed by a crime with indeterminacy about how much risk it takes for the crime to qualify as a violent felony, the residual clause produces more unpredictability and arbitrariness than the Due Process Clause tolerates." ( Ibid . ) Thus, the United States Supreme Court found the residual clause of the ACCA to be unconstitutionally vague.
In Dimaya , the U.S. Supreme Court found a similar constitutional infirmity in the residual clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act
Further, the very need to consider felonies that "otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another" ( 18 U.S.C.S. § 924 (e)(2)(B)(ii) ), in light of the specifically enumerated felonies of burglary, arson, extortion, or involving use of explosives, ( ibid. ), was never implicated in California's second degree felony-murder rule, unlike under the Supreme Court's original analysis of the ACCA in Johnson . For purposes of second degree felony-murder analysis, the enumerated felonies listed in Penal Code section 189 defined first degree murder (now enumerated in current § 189, subd. (a) ). But, "[a]ll other kinds of murder are of the second degree." (Former § 189 ; now contained in current § 189, subd. (b).) A determination of second degree murder, including felony murder, therefore, was not considered in the light of, or with the need to compare, the enumerated felonies applicable to the wholly separate first degree murder determination.
9 The dissent considers the distinction between prior convictions, for the purpose of sentence enhancements under the ACCA, and current convictions with the dynamics of ongoing trials as "meaningless to a categorical inquiry." (Dis. opn. post , at p. 700.) In section II.D., post , we point out how the use of expert testimony at trial in cases such as this distinguish this process from the categorical inquiry used in Johnson .
Notwithstanding, while not trivial, these differences do not form the basis of our opinion. Here, petitioner's conviction did not simply rest on an abstract, elements-based analysis of the inherent dangerousness of the underlying crime, manufacturing methamphetamine. Instead, the trial court relied on real-world, concrete evidence on the issue of inherent dangerousness. It simply was not real-world evidence of petitioner's particular facts.
C. Manufacturing Methamphetamine is Inherently Dangerous to Human Life
We have no difficulty finding inherent dangerousness here. First, in James , this court considered the felonious manufacture of methamphetamine as a qualifying inherently dangerous felony for the second degree murder rule. We reasoned that, "Whether a felony is inherently dangerous for purposes of the second degree felony-murder rule is a question of law, or, at a minimum, a mixed question of law and fact, which we review de novo." ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 259, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 , citing People v. Taylor (1992) 6 Cal.App.4th 1084 , 1090-1094, 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 439 ( Taylor ).) In that light, we also considered what evidence we could look to in determining inherent dangerousness. ( Taylor , at pp. 1090-1094, 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 439 .)
Our review of second degree felony-murder cases found that many cases made the determination of inherent dangerousness to human life on the elements of the respective crime, without resort to other evidence. ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at pp. 259-260, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) However, at
In fact, we viewed-and still do view-the circumstances in James as analogous as to whether a new scientific technique is generally accepted within the relevant scientific community so as to be admissible under the Kelly / Frye rule.[12] ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 262, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) Necessarily, that viewpoint applies to the instant case as well.
In James , the evidence presented in the trial court detailed the various steps in manufacturing methamphetamine, supported by the testimony of several expert witnesses. The most common method is using ephedrine or pseudoephedrine from a medication. ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 263, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) The first step is to extract the ephedrine or pseudoephedrine from the medication, using a solvent such as distilled water, denatured alcohol, Coleman fuel, and acetone. This process may be accelerated with heating; both acetone and Coleman fuel are flammable, adding the risk of a flash fire.
12 People v. Kelly (1976) 17 Cal.3d 24 , 130 Cal.Rptr. 144 , 549 P.2d 1240 ; Frye v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1923) 293 F. 1013 .
These steps and methods were described in full from real-world crime site investigation and observation, experience and known chemical processes. Several experienced witnesses from the California Department of Justice and elsewhere testified as to details of methamphetamine laboratories and fires/explosions. ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 264, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) In addition, we examined California cases in related areas not involving second degree felony murder, but which detailed the dangers of producing methamphetamine in an unprofessional laboratory. ( Id . at pp. 265-267, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) Further, cases from other jurisdictions also detailed the same dangers. ( Id . at pp. 268-269, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .)
Having considered the evidence adduced before the James trial court, the testimony of experts on the issue of illicit manufacture of methamphetamine and its dangers, and the various cases in diverse jurisdictions, we concluded that "the trial court correctly ruled that manufacturing methamphetamine is inherently dangerous to human life for purposes of the second degree felony-murder rule." ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 271, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .)
Turning to the instant case, the trial court here cited James and built on its foundation with additional expert testimony on the issue of manufacturing methamphetamine, including in the form of "pulling" methamphetamine from leftover, meth-saturated solvent. Sheriff's investigator Thomas Salisbury testified he was involved in meth lab investigations since 1986; was present and assisted in the investigation of "probably 1,000 meth labs to date, typically investigating somewhere in the area of 300 a year"; was intimately familiar with methamphetamine, its use, its packaging and sale and the manner of manufacture based on his interaction with manufacturers and users; and, had personally manufactured methamphetamine five times under controlled conditions. He has testified in court as an expert with regard to methamphetamine labs or methamphetamine lab fires 300 times.
He first described the "Reader's Digest" version of manufacture as, "you get over-the-counter cold medication such as Sudafed or Actifed or something
14 The dissent asks us to consider the impact on inherent dangerousness by manufacturing methamphetamine in a more professional setting. To that end, he suggests that manufacturing (1) in a well-ventilated and equipped laboratory or (2) by a Ph.D. in chemistry could demonstrate that it is possible to manufacture methamphetamine safely, citing Howard . He offers in support a 2005 article titled SDSU grad indicted on charges he used campus lab to make drugs , and a 2008 article titled, Ex-Ph.D student makes a deal in meth, theft case , involving a University of California at Merced doctoral student. (Dis. opn. post , at p. 696, fns. 3, 4.) The first article alleged a San Diego State University graduate "used a campus laboratory to manufacture methamphetamine, Ecstasy and other drugs," and that additional Ecstasy and fentanyl were recovered at his residence. The article presents no information from which to infer that the campus environment was any "safer" a venue to manufacture methamphetamine. (See The San Diego Union-Tribune, SDSU grad indicted on charges he used campus lab to make drugs (June 30, 2005) http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-sdsu-grad-indicted-on-charges-he-used-campus-lab-2005jun30-story.html [as of April 25, 2019].) Similarly, the doctoral student in Merced was charged with "felony conspiracy to make meth[amphetamine] and embezzlement" for allegedly stealing "$ 10,000 in chemicals and equipment from the school" to manufacture methamphetamine. Again, the article reveals nothing from which to infer that the student was "safely" producing methamphetamine. In fact, the investigation led to his and other residences where "several thousand dollars worth of glass flasks, vessels, pumps and other equipment, as well as chemicals used in the production of meth" was found. (See The Modesto Bee, Ex-Ph.D student makes a deal in meth , theft case (Sept. 27, 2018) < https://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article3114437.html> [as of April 25, 2019].) Storing chemicals in residences does not seem particularly any safer, despite the student's doctoral candidacy. The dissent also asks whether the outcome would be different if manufacturing took place in an isolated location, and "Does the law change if, in the next case, the defendant is not someone like Gregory White but instead like Walter White?" (Dis. opn. post , at p. 697 and fn. 5 [citing a Wikipedia entry for the fictional Walter White of the "Breaking Bad" television show]. (See Walter White ( Breaking Bad )-Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_White_(Breaking_Bad)> [as of April 25, 2019] ).) The comparison to a fictional character is compromised when one realizes that the producers of that series had an interest in ensuring the protagonist-meth-cooking Walter-returned after each episode instead of perhaps perishing in a fire or explosion or from toxic fumes. Further, while we are reluctant to rely on a Wikipedia article (see Crispin v. Christian Audigier , Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2010) 717 F.Supp.2d 965 , 976, fn. 19 [collecting cases on the unreliability of a "user-generated source" as a legal reference]; Gerritsen v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2015) 112 F.Supp.3d 1011 , 1028 ; People v. Stamps (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 988 , 997, 207 Cal.Rptr.3d 828 [Wikipedia considered as hearsay] ), we would point out that the article's abstract of five seasons of the Breaking Bad series indicates several deaths occurred during the fictional Walter's enterprise, if apparently intentional. For example, the article states that in the first season, Walter begins a "cook," only to produce phosphine gas. Phosphine gas is a toxic byproduct of methamphetamine manufacturing that was used as a nerve agent in World War I. (See People v. Odom (1991) 226 Cal.App.3d 1028 , 1034, 277 Cal.Rptr. 265 .) Walter then used the gas to kill one antagonist and incapacitate another, only to garotte him later. Notwithstanding dramatic plot twists, manufacturing in an isolated location is not dispositive of safety, and if an accomplice or other person is killed during the process, exposure to murder charges exists regardless of location. Of course, if no one else is present, there can be no killing for purposes of the second degree felony-murder rule and the issue is moot.
The trial court was correct in relying on James for a determination of inherent dangerousness to human life. As we observed there, "On appeal, we review the trial court's determination independently. Once a published appellate opinion holds a felony is (or is not) inherently dangerous, that precedent is controlling, unless and until a litigant makes an offer of proof that technological changes have changed the status of the felony. This ensures that the classification of felonies as inherently dangerous is governed by a uniform rule of law. (See People v. Taylor , supra , 6 Cal.App.4th at p. 1092 [ 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 439 ].)" ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 263, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .)[15] Furthermore, James provides defendants with notice of their exposure to a murder conviction, satisfying due process.[16]
15 The instant issue is presented to us as a petition for writ of habeas corpus, not on appeal, but we find no principled reason to treat the precedent established in James any differently.
16 The dissent expresses concern over due process notice from diverse decisions under the former second degree felony-murder rule. Again, our decision here is based on the record of this case. First, former Sheriff's Deputy James testified at petitioner's trial that in 1996, four years before Rhea's death, "[h]e specifically told [petitioner] about a 1995 incident involving Kathy [ sic ] James. While Kathy James was manufacturing methamphetamine, an explosion occurred that resulted in the death of three of her children. (See People v. [ Kathey Lynn ] James (1998) 62 Cal.App.4th 244 , 250, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) In response, defendant told [Deputy] James that he was aware of the Kathy James case and of the dangers of manufacturing methamphetamine." ( White , supra , E034877, at pp. 32-33.) Petitioner also testified at his trial and, "[o]n cross-examination, [he] admitted that he had extensive knowledge of the different methods of manufacturing methamphetamine, had been manufacturing the drug for at least 10 years before October 2000, and knew about the dangers of manufacturing methamphetamine." ( Id . at p. 15.) There is no question on this record that petitioner had not only constructive notice but actual notice that death of another during the felonious manufacture of methamphetamine carries exposure to a murder conviction, or that manufacturing methamphetamine is inherently dangerous to human life.
D. Johnson 's Finding of Unconstitutionally Vague is not Implicated Here
In this case, and in the predecessor James case dealing with manufacturing methamphetamine as an inherently dangerous to human life felony, it was established with scientific precision that such manufacture and its various permutations are in fact inherently dangerous for the purpose of the second degree felony-murder
17 As we noted in section I above, petitioner filed a post-traverse letter pointing out the U.S. Supreme Court's most recent opinion on this issue in Dimaya , supra , --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1204 , and asserting that "[t]he decision is relevant to arguments in White's traverse," but not explaining how that is so. Dimaya does not add to petitioner's argument in this case. Petitioner filed a second letter pointing out the Ninth Circuit's recent opinion in Henry , supra , 899 F.3d 703 , also asserting it relevant to arguments in his traverse. There, the Ninth Circuit considered the request of a California state inmate to file a second or subsequent federal habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 2254, the applicable section of the federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), and whether that petitioner satisfied the requirements of 28 U.S.C. section 2244(b) to do so. ( Henry , at p. 705.) The inmate had been convicted of felony discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling and second degree murder in 1996. ( Ibid . ) Because he had previously filed a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. section 2254, he was required to obtain the court of appeals' authorization for the federal district court to consider his successive petition. ( Henry , at p. 705 ; 28 U.S.C, § 2241(b)(3)(A).) He requested the second or successive petition to argue that Johnson applied to California's second degree felony-murder rule, and that the rule was made void for vagueness thereby. ( Henry , at p. 707.) The Ninth Circuit found the petitioner made a prima facie showing that his proposed petition relied on a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable, and overcame the State's objections. ( Id . at pp. 707-711.) The Ninth Circuit discussed both the Johnson analysis of the ACCA's residual clause and California's second degree felony-murder rule, comparing certain similarities and differences between them, but limited its determination to the request for a successive petition. The Ninth Circuit granted that authorization for a second or subsequent federal habeas petition under the AEDPA, while noting that the demanding standard of 28 U.S.C. section 2254 may cause the petition to ultimately fail "for any number of reasons" not then before that court. ( Id . at p. 711.) As such, the case involves a procedural determination under the terms of the AEDPA, not a substantive consideration of the Johnson second degree felony-murder rule issue raised by petitioner herein. To the extent that the Ninth Circuit found that the argument as to unconstitutionality in Henry was "plausible," as the dissent points out, we read it simply in the context of overcoming the AEDPA's bar to a successive federal habeas petition. We further note that Henry does not involve the factual and evidentiary considerations, i.e., expert witness testimony as to a scientific process obviating the vagueness issue in Johnson , that is central here. Petitioner does not otherwise articulate how Henry is relevant, and it does not avail him.
18 The dissent also suggests that there is no guidance how to determine the likelihood of death from the manufacture of methamphetamine. In one attempt, however, the dissent cites a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Injuries from Methamphetamine Related Chemical Incidents-Five States , 2001-2012 . (Dis. opn. post , at p. 698 and fn. 6.) That study reviewed 1,325 reports of methamphetamine chemical-related incidents, finding that in 87 of them (seven percent), 162 persons were injured with two deaths. The dissent, admitting that the five states involved (Louisiana, Oregon, Utah, New York, and Wisconsin) did not include California, still questions whether these statistics should constitute a " 'high probability' " of death for purposes of the second degree felony murder rule. (Dis. opn. post , at pp. 698-99.) The study itself, however, admits its limitations in this regard. "First, all meth-related incidents for the five states in the database might not have been captured because of the queries used. NTSIP does not include meth incidents in homes unless there is a public health action, such as evacuation. In addition, because of pending legal actions, data on meth-chemical incidents are often difficult to obtain. Second, because states rely on relationships with law enforcement agencies and on scanning media reports, the quality of meth-related chemical incident data differs among states. Finally, trends from the five states cannot be generalized to the entire United States." (Natalia Melnikova et al., Injuries from Methamphetamine-Related Chemical Incidents-Five States , 2001-2012 (Aug. 28, 2015), at p. 3 < https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6433a4.htm> [as of April 25, 2019].) These limitations make the data in the CDC's study questionable. For one example, the "pending legal actions" making data difficult to obtain could easily mean that deaths are not consistently reported. Aside from this study, the dissent considers whether expert testimony in the instant case and in James sufficiently establishes a "high probability" of death. The dissent refers to sheriff's investigator Salisbury's experience-based testimony that "the chances of having a lab fire and explosion at any site is 1 in 5" as "weakly sourced." (Dis. opn. post , at p. 698.) However, Investigator Salisbury attributed the one in five statistic to data compiled by the national organization of the Clandestine Laboratory Investigators Association, from whom he also testified he received part of his formal training. The dissent does not explain how this expert witness testimony is "weakly sourced" on this background. We find Salisbury's testimony supported by substantial evidence and simply observe that " 'the reviewing court must "accept the trial court's resolution of disputed facts and inferences, and its evaluations of credibility, if supported by substantial evidence." ' " ( People v. Tully (2012) 54 Cal.4th 952 , 990, 145 Cal.Rptr.3d 146 , 282 P.3d 173 [quoting People v. Gonzalez (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1111 , 1125, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 295 , 104 P.3d 98 ].) Notwithstanding, the dissent relies on two other investigators' experience-based assessments that methamphetamine manufacture can be done " ' "relatively" safely' " and that " '[s]ome "cookers" have produced thousands of batches without an explosion[.]' " (Dis. opn. post , at p. 703.) The dissent thus reasons that, under Howard , " 'in the abstract, manufacturing methamphetamine is not inherently dangerous.' " ( Ibid .) Yet, in James , the source of these two investigators' testimony, defendant Kathey Lynn James testified that she manufactured methamphetamine " 'in the safest way as possible' ..., '[o]ne step at a time, which made it a lot more safe and clean' ..., 'avoid[ed] adding any heat to the process, although, when she needed to, she used a lukewarm heating plate,' " and hired two others "to take care of her children so they would not be around when she was 'cooking.' " ( James , supra , 62 Cal.App.4th at p. 256, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) She testified she had " 'cooked' " 300 batches of methamphetamine without an explosion or fire. ( Id . at p. 255, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) Notwithstanding this supposedly "safe" method of manufacture, she had a methamphetamine-related fire that killed three of her children, regardless of how many batches she had made over any amount of time. She was convicted of second degree murder and second degree felony murder on all three deaths; manufacturing methamphetamine; and, conspiracy to manufacture. ( Id . at p. 250, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) As we said in our review in James , " 'In viewing the elements our task is not to determine if it is possible (i.e., "conceivable") to violate the statute without great danger. ... Rather the question is: does a violation of the statute involve a high probability of death?' " ( James , at p. 270, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 ; Morse , supra , 2 Cal.App.4th at p. 646, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 343 .) The outcome in James is illustrative. Additionally, still in James , Gloria Pingrey, special agent of the California Department of Justice, had investigated 50 methamphetamine labs. Two fires had resulted in deaths; in two other cases, toxic fumes had caused death. ( James , at p. 264, 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 7 .) Another special agent of the California Department of Justice, Ken Riding (one of the investigators on whom the dissent relies), testified that despite any ability to manufacture " 'in a relatively safe way,' " using acetone and Coleman fuel is dangerous because they can be ignited by a hot plate or an open flame and he "knew of 'several' deaths from methamphetamine lab explosions." ( Ibid . ) Returning to the instant case, obviously, a death occurred: Brian Keith Rhea, petitioner White's friend and accomplice. Together with the expert testimony of the process of methamphetamine manufacturing, that is sufficiently precise to inform our decision of inherent dangerousness here. (We have already observed that the trial court in petitioner's case analogized the one in five chances of a fire or explosion to playing Russian roulette-placing a live round in one chamber of a five-chamber revolver, spinning the cylinder, placing the revolver's barrel to the head, and pulling the trigger. After a trigger pull, the hammer may fall on an empty chamber, making that a "relatively safe" result. Luck or poor gun skills might also result in a wound instead of a fatality when a round goes off-a "conceivable" relatively safe outcome. Yet, we find nothing to suggest that playing Russian roulette is other than "inherently dangerous to human life.")
III
IV
Accordingly, we must be "guided by the familiar principle ... that 'we do not reach constitutional questions unless absolutely required to do so to dispose the matter before us.' [Citation.]" ( Facebook , Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 1245 , 1275, fn. 31, 233 Cal.Rptr.3d 77 , 417 P.3d 725 .) The due process faults the United States Supreme Court found in categorical analysis of the ACCA's residual clause with regard to prior felonies for the purpose of penalty enhancement are not implicated here, on this record.
CONCLUSION
We have considered petitioner's arguments, bolstered as they are by Professor Lee's article, and the countervailing ones respondent has offered, in the light of our Supreme Court's direction to consider "why petitioner is not entitled to a reversal of his second degree felony murder conviction because the reasoning set forth in Johnson [ ] renders the California second-degree murder rule unconstitutionally vague." Necessarily, that consideration has been in the light of the record of petitioner's case and the relevant authorities discussed herein. Given that record, we cannot find that he is entitled to a reversal of his conviction under Johnson .
Accordingly, there is no basis for issuing a writ of habeas corpus.
DISPOSITION
The petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied.
I concur:
RAMIREZ, P. J.
The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits the government from taking away life, liberty, or property based on a criminal law that is "so vague that it fails to give ordinary people fair notice of the conduct it punishes, or so standardless that it invites arbitrary enforcement." ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2556, citing Kolender v. Lawson (1983) 461 U.S. 352 , 357-358, 103 S.Ct. 1855 , 75 L.Ed.2d 903 .) Because all statutory language leaves some need for interpretation, what is "fair" notice and "so" standardless is a matter of degree. In Johnson , the Court identified a type of criminal law-no doubt rare-that was sufficiently unfair and standardless that the Constitution cannot permit it.
Johnson addressed one clause in the definition of "violent felony" found in the federal Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(2)(B). Known
The second feature contributing to the vagueness of the residual clause was the "uncertainty about how much risk" was needed to qualify a crime as a violent felony under the unspecific statutory standard of " 'serious potential risk.' " ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2558.) That standard was not vague on its own, but it was problematic when measuring the abstraction of an "ordinary case": "It is one thing to apply an imprecise 'serious potential risk' standard to real-world facts; it is quite another to apply it to a judge-imagined abstraction." ( Ibid. ; see also id. at p. 2561 ["we do not doubt the constitutionality of laws that call for the application of a qualitative standard such as 'substantial risk' to real-world conduct"].)
Thus, Johnson 's vagueness test does not affect statutes that occasionally generate a difficult legal issue about whether a defendant's crime falls within their ambit. Johnson likewise does not affect statutes that apply an indefinite standard such as "dangerousness" to a defendant's actual conduct. (See Sessions v. Dimaya (2018) --- U.S. ----, 138 S.Ct. 1204 , 1214, 200 L.Ed.2d 549 ( Dimaya ) ["Many perfectly constitutional statutes use imprecise terms like 'serious potential risk' ... or 'substantial risk.' "].) In all, Johnson made clear that its holding that the residual clause was unconstitutionally vague resulted from both features it discussed. That is, a criminal statute is constitutionally void for vagueness if it employs a combination of (1) an abstract judicial construct that is (2) evaluated by an uncertain standard. As the Court put it, "[b]y combining indeterminacy about how to measure the risk posed by a crime with indeterminacy about how much risk it takes for the crime to qualify as a violent felony, the residual clause produces more unpredictability and arbitrariness
Under Johnson , then, a statute fails to provide ordinary people fair notice of what is criminal when it requires courts to apply an indefinite standard to an abstract construction of a statute that is not tied to their own conduct. This holding condemns few laws, but, in my view, one of them is California second degree felony murder.[20]
First degree felony murder is defined as a killing committed during the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate any of several specified felonies. ( Pen. Code, § 189.) There is nothing unconstitutionally vague about that statute. There is no statutory list of specified felonies, however, for second degree felony murder. In our state, that crime has been judicially defined as " 'an unlawful killing in the course of the commission of a felony that is inherently dangerous to human life but is not included among the felonies enumerated in section 189.' " ( People v. Chun (2009) 45 Cal.4th 1172 , 1182, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 ( Chun ) [quoting People v. Robertson (2004) 34 Cal. 4th 156 , 164, 17 Cal.Rptr.3d 604 , 95 P.3d 872 ].) The idea is that when a defendant perpetrates a " 'felony inherently dangerous to human life,' " the requisite malice for murder is imputed to him when death results. ( Chun , supra , at p. 1184, 91 Cal.Rptr.3d 106 , 203 P.3d 425 .) As applied by our courts, second degree felony murder carries the same two-pronged flaw as the residual clause at issue in Johnson .
A. Abstract Determination
As with the "residual clause" found unconstitutionally vague in Johnson , courts determine whether a felony is "inherently dangerous to human life" categorically for the felony, independent of the facts of any particular offense. " 'In determining whether a felony is inherently dangerous [under the second degree felony-murder rule], the court looks to the elements of the felony in the abstract , "not the 'particular' facts of the case," i.e., not to the defendant's specific conduct.' [Citation.] That is, we determine whether the felony 'by its very nature ... cannot be committed without creating a substantial risk that someone will be killed ....' [Citations.]" ( People v. Howard (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1129 , 1135, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 ( Howard ).)
2 Johnson considered whether the residual clause was void for vagueness under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2556 ), but the same analysis applies under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and article I, section 7 of the California Constitution, both of which are implicated here. (See Welch v. United States , supra , 136 S.Ct. at pp. 1261-1262 ; People v. Heitzman (1994) 9 Cal.4th 189 , 199, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 236 , 886 P.2d 1229 .)
Thus, the courts are charged with abstractly constructing and then evaluating the possible means of committing the offense to determine whether any such means is not sufficiently dangerous. This approach was applied in Howard , supra , 34 Cal.4th 1129 , 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 , the most recent case where our Supreme Court adjudicated whether a particular crime was inherently dangerous for purposes of second degree felony murder. Howard addressed whether "driving with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property while fleeing from a pursuing police officer," in violation of Vehicle Code section 2800.2, was an inherently dangerous felony. ( Howard , supra , at p. 1132, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 .) That felony certainly seems dangerous ordinarily : on the facts of Howard , the defendant fled pursuing officers in a sport utility vehicle at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, running stop signs and a red light, and driving on the wrong side of a road, until he collided with another vehicle and killed the driver. ( Ibid . ) Indeed, the felony even appears dangerous by its terms, as it expressly requires as an element the "willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property." ( Ibid. )
Our Supreme Court noted, however, that under the statute, the " 'willful or wanton disregard' " element can be met by " any flight from an officer during which the motorist commits three traffic violations that are assigned a 'point count.' " ( Howard , supra , 34 Cal.4th at p. 1137, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 .) Such traffic violations include, among others, ones that are relatively nonhazardous: driving with a suspended license, driving slightly more than 55 miles per hour when there is no higher posted speed limit, and making a right turn without signaling for 100 feet before turning. ( Id. at pp. 1137-1138, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 .) The possibility of such a nonhazardous violation was enough for the Supreme Court to conclude "a violation of [Vehicle Code] section 2800.2 is not, in the abstract, inherently dangerous to human life." ( Id. at pp. 1138-1139, 23 Cal.Rptr.3d 306 , 104 P.3d 107 .) Thus, because the Supreme Court was able to identify a way that the offense possibly could be committed without a high probability of death, the crime could not serve as a predicate for second degree felony murder.
The Court reasoned similarly in considering the crime of practicing medicine without a license under conditions creating a risk of great bodily harm, serious physical or mental illness, or death. ( Burroughs , supra , 35 Cal.3d at p. 833, 201 Cal.Rptr. 319 , 678 P.2d 894 .) The Court held that this felony was not inherently dangerous to human life, principally because the crime could be committed, for example,
This "high probability" test is no less ill-defined than the "serious potential risk" standard found in the residual clause in Johnson . The problem with such a "fuzzy risk standard" ( Dimaya , supra , 138 S.Ct. at p. 1221 ) is that it allows for a wide range of arguable results in evaluating the danger of any particular abstract of a felony, giving inadequate notice of which crimes are to be punished and creating unpredictable determinations by our courts. In Patterson , for instance, our Supreme Court established the "high probability" test but did not decide whether the offense at issue, furnishing cocaine, met that standard, sending the case to the trial court to evaluate evidence on the matter. ( Patterson , supra , 49 Cal.3d at pp. 618, 625, 262 Cal.Rptr. 195 , 778 P.2d 549 .) If the answer to that question was not knowable by the Supreme Court, it was not something that the ordinary person could be expected to know. A remand for an evidentiary hearing about the facts of a defendant's crime is standard appellate
Along these lines, and perhaps more realistic for most criminals than manufacture in a laboratory, methamphetamine could be manufactured in an isolated location such as a field or empty lot-putting no nonparticipants at risk-with those involved in manufacture wearing protective, fire-resistant gear that would drastically reduce the risk of death, even if a fire occurred. I cannot see a basis for us to
3 (See The San Diego Union-Tribune, SDSU grad indicted on charges he used campus lab to make drugs (June 30, 2005) < https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-sdsu-grad-indicted-on-charges-he-used-campus-lab-2005jun30-story.html> [as of Apr. 25, 2019].)
4 (See The Modesto Bee, Ex-Ph.D student makes a deal in meth, theft case (Sept. 27, 2018) < https://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article3114437.html> [as of Apr. 25, 2019].)
Finally, on top of these uncertainties about the proper abstract version of the felony of manufacturing methamphetamine, the uncertainty of the second prong of the inherent dangerous inquiry completes the constitutional vagueness problem. We must find that there is a "high probability" that death will result from the abstract version of the felony, yet we have no guidance as to what a high probability is. That uncertain threshold alone causes unpredictability. But the data that is used as evidence underlying any such probability determination-which depends upon what litigants in a particular case choose to introduce-compounds the uncertainty.
In that regard, I share with the majority the view that, when courts consider whether a probability is "high" for these purposes, it is preferable that they act with "scientific precision" in a manner that is "evidence-based." (Maj. opn., ante , at p. 686.) The alternative is that judges simply use their subjective instincts. (See
I do not know whether this study is the best one to rely on if statistical evidence of deaths during methamphetamine were evaluated. If this study were considered, I do not know whether two deaths out of thousands of methamphetamine manufacturers should constitute evidence of a "high probability" in our circumstances. I also do not know how one could ever come up with a mortality statistic that reflects an abstract version of felony that is the least hazardous possible way of committing it, rather than reflecting "all" methamphetamine manufactures or the "ordinary" case.
I do know that the uncertainty of these matters is the type of uncertainty identified by the Supreme Court in Johnson , which explained how no judicial approach could prevent "the risk comparison required by the residual clause from devolving into guesswork and intuition." ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2559.) These types of policy determinations are normally the domain of the Legislature. There is no statutory vagueness problem when our Legislature considers evidence and opts to add an offense, such as methamphetamine manufacture, to the list of offenses that can be predicates for first degree felony murder. One can find the legislative determination either wise or misguided, but, regardless, the statute is not vague. If a statute defines the crime, citizens have notice of what is criminal, and the courts have a reasonably specific penal law to apply.
But the situation is different where a court is charged with applying a loose legal standard to decide what crimes are felony murder predicates, based on
6 Natalia Melnikova et al., Injuries from Methamphetamine-Related Chemical Incidents - Five States, 2001-2012 (Aug. 28, 2015) < https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6433a4.htm> (as of Apr. 25, 2019).
A further dimension to the majority's focus on the ACCA enumerated crimes clause has been held by the United States Supreme Court to be immaterial to a Johnson vagueness claim. The majority points out that the California law is not a residual clause defined in part by the enumerated list of crimes that precedes it. (Maj. opn., ante , pp. 680-81.) Johnson 's two-pronged vagueness analysis, however,
Finally, the majority notes that Johnson considered the impracticality of requiring a sentencing court to reconstruct old crimes, which (unlike with the California second degree felony-murder rule) could come from diverse jurisdictions with varying laws. (Maj. opn., ante , at pp. 680-81.) This has nothing to do with the issue before us. The majority is relying on a passage in Johnson that explained-in response to a change urged by dissenting Justices-why the Court was sticking to a categorical approach to the residual clause, rather than focusing on the defendant's particular conduct. (See Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2562.) It does not matter to our inquiry today why either the ACCA or the California test apply a categorical approach that does not evaluate the particular defendant's conduct. All that matters is that both do so. That simple fact satisfies the first prong of Johnson's two-prong test and thus goes a long way to demonstrating that the inquiries implicate similar constitutional vagueness concerns.
B. The Claim That Real-World Evidence Cures Johnson 's Ills
I also am not persuaded by the majority's view that Johnson 's constitutional vagueness problems are cured when courts rely "on real-world concrete evidence on
Over the years, for example, our Court of Appeal has reached differing conclusions as to whether felony child endangerment in violation of Penal Code section 273a is an inherently dangerous felony. (Compare People v. Shockley (1978) 79 Cal.App.3d 669 , 677, 145 Cal.Rptr. 200 [affirming second degree felony-murder conviction based on a conception that it is inherently dangerous to life to allow a "child to be placed in such a situation that its person or health is endangered"] with People v. Lee (1991) 234 Cal.App.3d 1214 , 1224, 286 Cal.Rptr. 117 [reversing second degree felony-murder conviction in part by hypothesizing an offense that "could include a broken arm or leg" but not jeopardize the life of the child].) This difference in judicial hypothesizing has nothing to do with evidence of the dangerousness of felony child endangerment. It instead has to do with the conceptions judges formulate about the possible ways of violating the statute and the level of abstraction at which the dangerousness of the offense is evaluated. That problem exists in this case because the result can turn on what abstract ways of committing the offense of methamphetamine manufacture a judge imagines. The vagueness problem resulting from "judge-imagined abstractions" applies even when, as here, the trial court relies on statistical or expert testimony in considering whether a felony is inherently dangerous to human life.
C. Reliance on People v. James in Lieu of the Abstract Felony Inquiry
Finally, the majority relies heavily on our James opinion, but I am doubtful that citing that opinion clears up the Johnson vagueness problem. James cannot easily be reconciled with the Supreme Court's opinion in Howard, decided several years after this court decided James . In Howard , our Supreme Court held that the possibility of committing a felony-driving with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property while fleeing from a
But both the ACCA residual clause and California's second degree felony-murder rule do not involve consideration of a defendant's actual conduct. Rather, they both involve a categorical approach that has nothing to do with the defendant; instead, a defendant's liability turns on a court's classifying, under an imprecise standard of risk, the entire crime that he committed. Frandsen goes wrong in its attempted manner of distinguishing the two categorical inquiries.
Frandsen 's view came from a misconstruction of a sentence in Johnson that stated that the residual clause inquiry was not tied "to real-world facts or statutory elements ." ( Frandsen , supra , 33 Cal.App.5th at p. 1143, 245 Cal.Rptr.3d 658 , 2019 WL 1486863 at *10, citing Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2557, original italics.) In context, Johnson 's reference to an inquiry tied to "statutory elements" means one that depends exclusively on the elements, leaving little or no room for judicial discretion. Two paragraphs before this sentence in Johnson , the Court explained why it was not invalidating another categorical test in the ACCA. That test, known as the elements clause, includes felonies that require force as an element. (See Welch v. United States , supra , 136 S.Ct. at p. 1261 ; 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(2)(B)(i).) Johnson stated that with the residual clause, "[t]he court's task goes beyond deciding whether creation of risk is an element of the crime[,] ... unlike the part of the definition of a violent felony that asks whether the crime 'has as an element the use ... of physical force.' " ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2557, italics omitted.) Thus, in distinguishing the residual clause from the elements clause, Johnson indicated that a law provides fair notice by stating that crimes containing a particular element (force) qualify for heightened punishment. This is the context for Johnson 's statement a few sentences later distinguishing the residual clause from laws tied to "statutory elements." (See also
There is a difference between the residual clause inquiry and the second degree felony-murder one. But it is not whether statutory elements are "considered" as Frandsen stated. It is what the elements are considered for . With the residual clause, courts considered the elements to construct an ordinary case of the offense, which they then evaluated to see if it carried a serious potential risk of physical injury. For second degree felony murder, courts consider the elements to determine if they can construct a least harmful case in which the offense "possibly could be committed without creating" a high probability of death. ( Burroughs , supra , 35 Cal.3d at p. 830, 201 Cal.Rptr. 319 , 678 P.2d 894 .) A determination that our second degree felony-murder rule is not impermissibly vague must turn on a conclusion that our "possibly could be committed" inquiry provides fair notice of what is criminal, even though the residual clause "ordinary case" inquiry does not. As discussed earlier, I believe that both inquiries are indeterminate. Unlike the vast majority of criminal laws, both of these inquiries turn on the uncertainty of how judges will construe the defendant's offense in the abstract, against a qualitative risk standard.
In this regard, the principal case that Frandsen relies upon, People v. Hansen , supra , 9 Cal.4th 300 , 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 609 , 885 P.2d 1022 ( Hansen ), illustrates the unpredictability of California's "possibly could be committed" inquiry. Hansen held that discharging a firearm at an "inhabited dwelling house" ( Pen. Code, § 246 ) is inherently dangerous for the purposes of the second degree felony-murder rule. In holding that the crime is dangerous to human life, the court relied on the fact that people generally are in or around an inhabited building. ( Hansen , supra , at p. 310, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 609 , 885 P.2d 1022 .) That is the ordinary case. But the test is whether the offense "possibly could be committed" without a high probability of danger to human life. Hansen recognized such a possibility: that "a defendant may be guilty of this felony even if, at the time of the shooting, the residents of the inhabited dwelling happen to be absent." (
VI
Johnson reviewed the case law concerning the residual clause and determined that judicial "experience" in applying that clause convinced it that the "uncertainties" were intolerable. ( Johnson , supra , 135 S.Ct. at p. 2560.) Hansen helps illustrate the same uncertainties in California's second degree felony-murder rule. As in Johnson , these differ in kind and degree from the uncertainties that affix to ordinary statutes. At the end of the day, I am not sure there can be a definitive answer to the question as to which abstract test-the residual clause in Johnson or California's second degree felony murder-rule-is more vague. Both inquiries require courts to assess hypothetical risks posed by an abstract consideration of offenses, so they are similarly malleable and unpredictable. The two inquiries cannot be cleanly distinguished in the manner that Frandsen attempts.
CONCLUSION
Our Supreme Court has not yet considered the second degree felony-murder law in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's new vagueness rule in Johnson . In a manner not previously articulated, Johnson 's two-pronged vagueness test delineates what makes our rule unconstitutionally uncertain. Because Johnson requires a finding of unconstitutional vagueness only when guilt depends on creating an abstraction of a crime divorced from the defendant's actual conduct, and then using an indefinite standard to evaluate the abstraction, it implicates only laws on the periphery of our Penal Code, if any others exist at all. Our courts surely will have few occasions where Johnson requires us to invalidate a statute. But Johnson could have been written about our second degree felony-murder law. That law embodies both inadequate notice to perpetrators and an indefinite standard for the courts. Under a straightforward application of Johnson , the law fails to comport with due process.
Cases cited
- People v. Howard 34 Cal.4th 1129 p. 675, p. 963, p. 964
- People v. Caffero 207 Cal.App.3d 678 p. 676, p. 965
- People v. Patterson 49 Cal.3d 615 p. 676, p. 966
- People v. Chun 45 Cal.4th 1172 p. 677, p. 963
- Johnson v. United States 559 U.S. 133 p. 678
- James v. United States 550 U.S. 192 p. 687, p. 704
- Begay v. United States 553 U.S. 137 p. 687
- Chambers v. United States 555 U.S. 122 p. 687
- Sykes v. United States 564 U.S. 1 p. 687, p. 704
- District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 p. 695
- People v. Hansen 9 Cal.4th 300 p. 695, p. 943, p. 978
- People v. Nichols 3 Cal.3d 150 at 158 p. 698
- People v. Superior Court 34 Cal.App.5th 376 p. 700
- People v. Frandsen 33 Cal.App.5th 1126 p. 703, p. 704, p. 977
- People v. Lopez 6 Cal.3d 45 p. 706
- People v. Burroughs 35 Cal.3d 824 p. 942, p. 964
- People v. Henderson 19 Cal.3d 86 p. 942, p. 965
- People v. James 62 Cal.App.4th 244 p. 943, p. 967
- People v. Mattison 4 Cal.3d 177 p. 943
- People v. Clem 78 Cal.App.4th 346 p. 943
- People v. Robertson 34 Cal.4th 156 p. 943, p. 963
- People v. Greenberger 58 Cal.App.4th 298 p. 943
- People v. Morse 2 Cal.App.4th 620 p. 943
- People v. Tabios 67 Cal.App.4th 1 p. 943
- In re Figueroa 4 Cal.5th 576 p. 944
- People v. Villa 45 Cal.4th 1063 p. 944
- People v. Cruz-Lopez 27 Cal.App.5th 212 p. 944
- People v. Taylor 6 Cal.App.4th 1084 p. 949
- Nash v. United States 229 U.S. 373 p. 957
- Facebook, Inc. v. City of S.F. 4 Cal.5th 1245 at 1275 p. 959
- Kolender v. Lawson 461 U.S. 352 p. 961
- People v. Satchell 6 Cal.3d 28 p. 964
- People v. Coria 21 Cal.4th 868 p. 968
- People v. Hard 112 Cal.App.4th 272 p. 968
- People v. Lancellotti 19 Cal.App.4th 809 p. 968
- People v. Shockley 79 Cal.App.3d 669 p. 974
- People v. Lee 234 Cal.App.3d 1214 p. 974
- People v. Ledesma 14 Cal.App.5th 830 p. 976
- People v. White 3 Cal.App.5th 433 p. 976