MARTINEZ — Over the past four years, a Bay Area man has gone from serving a life sentence for murder, to pleading to 22 years, to being freed from jail altogether thanks to a change in state law.

Boise Duggan, 33, was freed from jail in late September after a Contra Costa judge ruled that Duggan was eligible for a manslaughter conviction dismissal under a law intended to reduce liability for people who were present during a homicide but not the actual killer. Duggan’s long road to freedom has spanned 10 years, starting when he and co-defendant Jeramy Griffin, 34, were arrested and charged with murdering Juan “Johnny” Hernandez.

Hernandez, 32, was shot to death in the Delta Pines apartments in Antioch in 2012, and Griffin testified that he “accidentally” shot Hernandez while pistol-whipping him inside a unit. Griffin and Duggan were at the apartment looking for laundry they believed one of Hernandez’s acquaintances had stolen.

In 2015, Duggan was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, but three years later an appeals court overturned the conviction. The appellate court justices ruled the trial judge, Charles “Ben” Burch, prejudiced jurors against Duggan by allowing evidence of Duggan’s possible involvement in an unrelated carjacking, and by excluding evidence that Hernandez was prone to violence.

In 2019, Duggan took a plea deal to a manslaughter charge and accepted a 22-year prison term. But then, changes in state law opened the door for his freedom.

In 2021, California legislators passed SB 775, which expanded a drastic restriction to California’s felony murder rule. A 2019 law, SB 1437, says prosecutors can’t charge people with murder when they didn’t personally kill a homicide victim unless they were active participants in the killing. Before SB 1437, prosecutors could file murder charges against anyone who participated in a felony, such as robbery or burglary, that resulted in a homicide.

Late last month, Judge Patricia Scanlon ruled that Duggan was eligible for relief under SB 775, which made SB 1437 apply to people convicted of manslaughter. Duggan was released from county jail on Sept. 28. He had been serving his life sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, records show.

Griffin, Duggan’s co-defendant who fatally shot Hernandez, is still incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison and has a parole-eligible date set in 2033, according to prison records.

Source: www.mercurynews.com