A state appeals court panel has rejected a bid for re-sentencing by a man convicted of orchestrating the murder-for-hire of his estranged wife, who was killed as police were outside her Long Beach home to investigate a report of a prowler.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
In a ruling Tuesday, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that a Superior Court judge “properly reviewed the available record of conviction, including our opinion affirming the conviction on direct appeal” to determine last June that Manfred Schockner was “ineligible for relief as a matter of law.”
The justices noted in their seven-page ruling that “Schockner’s record of conviction unquestionably established he was convicted of first-degree as an aider and abettor, a ground that remains valid” notwithstanding change in state law that allows for re-sentencing in some murder cases.