P. v. Sanchez
In 1994, Penal Code[1] former section 194 provided in pertinent part: “To make a killing either murder or manslaughter, it is requisite that the party die within three years and a day after the strike received or the cause of death administered.†(Stats. 1969, ch. 593, § 1, p. 1225.) The Legislature subsequently amended section 194 and as of January 1, 1997, the statute provides: “To make the killing either murder or manslaughter, it is not requisite that the party die within three years and a day after the stroke received or the cause of death administered. If death occurs beyond the time of three years and a day, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the killing was not criminal. The prosecution shall bear the burden of overcoming this presumption. In the computation of time, the whole of the day on which the act was done shall be reckoned the first.†(Stats. 1996, ch. 580, § 1, p. 2653.) We hold this amendment may be applied retroactively to a defendant whose act occurred prior to the amendment if the three years and a day term of the earlier version of the statute did not expire prior to the amendment. (Strong v. Superior Court (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 1076; People v. Snipe (1972) 25 Cal.App.3d 742.)
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