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New California law could free those convicted of murder as accomplices

Senate Bill 1437 essentially can give a second chance to hundreds of people serving prison time for murders they did not personally commit. It impacts people who were accomplices to murder and, by law, were found guilty of murder.

A new law could soon impact hundreds of murder cases in California.

Senate Bill 1437 essentially can give a second chance to hundreds of people serving prison time for murders they did not personally commit. It impacts people who were accomplices to murder and, by law, were found guilty of murder.

On Thursday, Neko Wilson walked out of the Fresno County Jail after spending nearly a decade for a murder that happened in 2009.

Wilson faced murder charges under the California felony murder rule, which says you can be charged with murder if you took part in a dangerous felony and someone is murdered in the process. But with SB 1437, Wilson is a free man.

The new law could affect a case in Sacramento County; one that reached a verdict on Friday in a Sacramento County courtroom.

Elijah Johnson was found guilty of first-degree murder on three counts from a murder in South Sacramento in April 2016. It was a robbery gone wrong between two drug dealers.

According to Johnson and witnesses, Johnson never pulled the trigger. Jurors also found David Nguyen guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and guilty of the use of a firearm while in the commission of the murders.

Johnson's mom, Jamilia Land, is holding onto hope that SB 1437 will reverse Johnson's conviction.

"He's a special somebody, you know. And he does not deserve to go to prison for the rest of his life for a murder he didn't commit. The district attorney's own witnesses stated that he did not shoot or kill anyone. And so, for me, it's heartbreaking to see that we are now in this position. He's looking at life without the possibility of parole," Land said.

Land is hoping SB 1437, once it becomes law, will affect her son's case and drop the murder charges he was just convicted of Friday.

"The only way we are going to be able to get any sense of justice is by being able to have these types of conversations, being able to bring these things outside of the courtroom. Because what has been happening in the courtroom will remain in the courtroom unless people begin to get up and begin to speak out," Land said.

For now, the state's felony murder rule stands, until SB 1437 becomes law.

Sentencing for Johnson will happen soon, after a hearing on his case scheduled for Monday morning.

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