Does section 209 of the Determinate Sentencing Act apply retroactively to a defendant serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole?

Two years later, another Court of Appeal considered whether section 209, which was amended under the Determinate Sentencing Act to provide that kidnapping for robbery was punishable by life with the possibility of parole, applied retroactively to a defendant serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole under the prior version of the statute. ( People v. Community Release Bd. (1979) 96 Cal.App.3d 792, 794, 158 Cal.Rptr. 238.) The amendment to section 209 was not expressly retroactive and the court concluded that because the amendment was ameliorative, it was to be applied retroactively " to every case to which it constitutionally could apply. " ( People v. Community Release Bd., supra , at p. 799, 158 Cal.Rptr. 238, quoting In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740, 745, 48 Cal.Rptr. 172, 408 P.2d 948.) Relying on Way , the court further

[267 Cal.Rptr.3d 174]