People v. Nelson CA2/1, B334415M

Sergio Dujuan Nelson was convicted in 1995 of two counts of first-degree murder, with special circumstances and firearm enhancements, for killings committed when he was 19 years old.
Nelson was initially sentenced to death, but the California Supreme Court reversed the death sentence in 2016 due to insufficient evidence on the “lying in wait” special circumstance.
Upon resentencing, Nelson received life without parole (LWOP) for one count and a consecutive sentence for the second count with firearm enhancements.
Nelson filed a motion for a "Franklin hearing" to preserve mitigating evidence for a potential future youth offender parole hearing, arguing he was under 26 at the time of the offense.
The trial court denied the motion, finding he was not eligible because he was over 18 at the time of the crime and sentenced to LWOP; Nelson appealed that denial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Eligibility for Franklin hearing and youth parole	Not eligible due to age and LWOP sentence per statute	Exclusion violates equal protection and is cruel/unusual punishment	Statutory exclusion is constitutional
Equal Protection Violation	Rational basis to distinguish juveniles and adults for parole	Adults under 26 should get same benefits as juveniles	No equal protection violation; rational
Cruel or Unusual Punishment	Sentence legal under current law and prior rulings	Legislature's parole distinctions make his sentence cruel/unusual	Punishment not cruel or unusual

People v. Nelson, 1 Cal.5th 513 (Cal. 2016) (reversed death sentence due to trial errors and insufficient special circumstance evidence)
People v. Franklin, 63 Cal.4th 261 (Cal. 2016) (youth offenders entitled to create records for future parole hearings)
In re Cook, 7 Cal.5th 439 (Cal. 2019) (limits and procedures for Franklin hearings)
People v. Hardin, 15 Cal.5th 834 (Cal. 2024) (rejecting similar equal protection argument regarding youth parole)