A man imprisoned for 16 years under California’s former felony murder rule has been ordered released following a successful resentencing effort by Keker, Van Nest & Peters’ Felony Murder Resentencing Project, a pro bono initiative that has helped seven individuals reduce or overturn their life sentences to date since criminal justice reforms were enacted in California in 2019.
Gennel Miles was originally convicted of felony murder in 2012 despite a lack of any physical evidence tying him to the killing. His conviction rested almost entirely on double hearsay testimony from a witness whose account was inconsistent, contradicted by phone records, and later recanted. Nonetheless, Mr. Miles was sentenced to life in prison without parole under California’s previous (and more punitive) felony murder standard.
That standard changed with the passage of Senate Bill 1437, which took effect in January 2019. The reform limited felony murder liability to individuals who were directly involved in or responsible for a killing and created a pathway for resentencing for those convicted under the old law.
Keker’s Felony Murder Resentencing Project, which was initiated shortly after the reforms, took on Mr. Miles’s case two years ago as part of its broader effort to secure relief for individuals serving life sentences for murders they did not commit.
Attorneys Maya James, Julia Greenberg, Kelly Kaufman, and Kayla Crowell worked to dismantle the original conviction. They uncovered a video of the key witness recanting her testimony, identified witnesses supporting Mr. Miles’s alibi, and gathered declarations contradicting the prosecution’s narrative. They also filed extensive legal motions challenging the admissibility of the prosecution’s evidence, particularly the hearsay testimony central to the original trial.
Leading up to a resentencing trial in Sacramento Superior Court, the parties reached a plea agreement allowing Mr. Miles’s release based on time served. A judge approved the amended judgment and ordered Mr. Miles’s immediate release.
About Keker’s Felony Murder Resentencing Project
Keker’s Felony Murder Resentencing Project is a pro bono initiative launched in 2019 in response to Senate Bill 1437, which reformed California’s felony murder rule and created a legal pathway for individuals to reduce life sentences received under the former standard. Backed by the firm’s experience with criminal defense—Keker was founded by two former public defenders—the pro bono project has helped at least seven individuals statewide overturn or reduce their murder convictions, securing their release or significantly shortening their sentences.
