The 2020 statutory reduction in the length of parole terms to two years (Pen. Code, § 3000.01) applies to section 1170.95 petitioners who are resentenced to a determinate term. In 1998, Tan was convicted of first degree murder and robbery. A weapon enhancement and prior serious felony were found true. He received an indeterminate sentence. In 2019, he petitioned for resentencing (Pen. Code, § 1170.95) based on Senate Bill No. 1437. After an order to show cause hearing, the trial court found that he could not currently be convicted of murder based on the changes to the law and vacated Tan’s murder conviction. He was resentenced to a doubled determinate term for robbery and a weapon use enhancement. The court ordered three years’ parole. On appeal, Tan challenged the length of his parole term. Held: Parole term reduced. On January 1, 2019, SB 1437, changed Penal Code sections 188 and 189 governing accomplice liability for felony murder and murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine. It also added section 1170.95, which allows defendants convicted on a now invalid theory of murder to petition for resentencing. The statute provides credit for time served where relief is granted, as well as for the imposition of three years’ parole. “[I]n 2020, the Legislature enacted a new parole statute that applies ‘notwithstanding any other law’ to ‘persons released from state prison on or after July 1, 2020 . . . .'” (Quoting Pen. Code, § 3000.01, subds. (b) & (a).) Under section 3000.01, subdivision (b)(1) “[a]ny inmate sentenced to a determinate term shall be released on parole for a period of two years.” The new parole statute specifically exempts sex offenders and inmates whose offenses carried shorter parole terms when they were committed. Here, Tan was resentenced to a determinate term after section 3000.01’s effective date and released from state prison after July 1, 2020. Thus, his parole term is limited to two years.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B308687.PDF