People v. Sandoval

• Citation: 363 P.3d 41,62 Cal.4th 394,196 Cal.Rptr.3d 424
• Decision Date: 24 December 2015
• Docket Number: No. S115872.,S115872.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ramon SANDOVAL, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

62 Cal.4th 394

363 P.3d 41

196 Cal.Rptr.3d 424

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Ramon SANDOVAL, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. S115872.

Supreme Court of California

Dec. 24, 2015.

Victor S. Haltom, Sacramento, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Jaime L. Fuster and Timothy M. Weiner, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LIU, J.

Defendant Ramon Sandoval, Jr. was convicted following a jury trial of the premeditated murder of Long Beach Police Detective Daryle Black and the attempted murder of his partner, Detective Rick Delfin. The jury found that the murder was committed with the special circumstances that the victim was a peace officer engaged in the lawful performance of his duties and that it was committed for the purpose of preventing a lawful arrest, by means of lying in wait, and to further the activities of a criminal street gang. The jury fixed the penalty at death. This appeal is automatic. (Pen.Code § 1239, subd. (b) ; all undesignated statutory references are to this code.) We reverse the special circumstance finding that Sandoval committed the murder by means of lying in wait, but otherwise affirm the judgment.

I. FACTS

On February 9, 2001, a Los Angeles County Grand Jury returned an indictment against defendant Ramon Sandoval and codefendants Adolfo Bojorquez and Miguel Camacho. Bojorquez and Camacho are not parties to this appeal. The indictment charged Sandoval with the April 2000 murder of Long Beach Police Detective Daryle Black. (§ 187, subd. (a).) It also charged the special circumstances that the victim was a peace officer engaged in the lawful performance of his duties (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7) ), that the murder was committed for the purpose of preventing a lawful arrest (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(5) ) and by means of lying in wait (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15) ), and that defendant was an active participant in a criminal street gang and committed the murder to further the activities of the gang (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(22) ).

The indictment further charged Sandoval with the willful and premeditated attempted murder of Long Beach Police Detective Rick Delfin while Detective Delfin was in the lawful performance of his duties (§§ 664, subds. (e), (f) ; 187, subd. (a)) and assault with an assault weapon on a peace officer in the lawful performance of his duties (§ 245, subd. (d)(3)). The indictment also charged Sandoval with assaulting Maria Cervantes with an assault weapon (§ 245, subd. (d)(3)). The indictment alleged that Sandoval committed several of these offenses for the benefit of a street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) and that he personally discharged an assault weapon (former § 12022.53, subds. (c), (d), (e)(1)).

A. Guilt Phase

Trial began on September 23, 2002. In his opening statement, defense counsel acknowledged that Sandoval was a gang member and that he had confessed he shot and killed Detective Black and injured Detective Delfin, adding: "The thing we are contesting was that Ramon Sandoval did not lie in wait on Lime Avenue to kill Detective Black. We think the evidence will show that was strictly a spontaneous, bizarre event that just occurred. Had those officers come by one minute earlier or one minute later, they wouldn't have been shot."

According to Sandoval's confession, which was tape-recorded and played for the jury, he was a member of the Barrio Pobre gang and goes by the moniker "Menace." On April 29, 2000, Sandoval and about 15 other members of the Barrio Pobre gang were drinking outside an abandoned house in Compton when a car pulled up. Someone in the car yelled "Fuck BP" and "East Side," and began shooting at them. No one was hit, and the car drove away. Sandoval and his fellow gang members believed the shooting was committed by a rival gang named East Side Paramount.

Sandoval and several members of his gang decided to retaliate. Sandoval retrieved an assault weapon, an AR–15, from a fellow gang member, and they went to the home of Vincent Ramirez, known as "Toro," who was a "shot caller" or leader of the East Side Paramount gang. They knew that Toro was having a birthday party at his house on Lime Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets in Long Beach. They intended to knock on the door and kill Toro.

Sandoval, carrying the assault weapon, rode in a red Chevrolet Beretta driven by Juan Camacho ("Pipas"), the brother of codefendant Miguel Camacho (Camacho or "Rascal"). They followed Camacho, Adolfo Bojorquez ("Grumpy"), and Julio Del Rio ("Sparky"), who were riding in a Honda. They pulled to the curb near Toro's house on the west side of Lime Avenue, facing south. Sandoval got out of the car, still carrying the assault weapon, and saw Camacho walking on the sidewalk on the east side of the street towards Toro's house. Sandoval was about to join him when he saw a police car driving down Lime Avenue, so Sandoval ducked behind the Beretta. The car was unmarked, but Sandoval recognized it as a police car, in part because of the spotlights mounted on the sides.

Sandoval saw that there were two police officers in the car, and they were looking at Camacho. Sandoval knew Camacho was on parole and was violating the terms of his parole because he was armed with a .45–caliber handgun. To "save" Camacho from "going to jail," Sandoval stood up and opened fire on the police car. Sandoval said the officers "didn't know what to do" because "[t]hey didn't know where ... the bullets were coming from" "[‘c]ause they didn't see me."

Detective Delfin confirmed that he did not see Sandoval until Sandoval began shooting. Detective Delfin testified that he was driving an unmarked police car southbound on Lime Avenue accompanied by Detective Black. They were part of the gang unit. He noticed a car that was double-parked "about midblock" and saw Camacho standing "by the back bumper." Detective Delfin "slowed up and stopped about two car lengths behind that car" as Camacho began walking east across the street. Detective Delfin continued to look to his left, watching Camacho. He was about to get out of the car and talk to Camacho when "someone up to my right ... started unloading on our police car with [what sounded like] an assault weapon." He said, "I did not know anybody was on that side of the car, sir, until they started shooting." "First shot, I don't think it did anything. But the ones following the first shot shattered the windows; window exploded, broke. The car was getting torn apart inside the interior. Debris is flying. Then I caught a round on the side of the head."

Jimmy Falconer was driving on Lime Avenue and witnessed the shooting. He said there was nothing the police officers could do: "It was sort of like a kind of ambush. I'm not saying set-up ambush, but if it was gonna be an ambush, this would be the way to do it. They didn't have time. They were preoccupied with [Camacho]. They were getting ready to jack him across the street, but then the gunfire opened up from across the—from this other side of the street...." "[T]hey didn't see it coming."

Officers responding to Detective Delfin's radio call for assistance took Detective Black to the hospital, where he died from a gunshot wound

to his head. Detective Delfin had been shot in the head and right knee. Police found 28 expended shell casings at the crime scene.

Maria Cervantes also was shot. She had been lying in her bed in her home on Lime Avenue when she was shot in her leg and abdomen. She was about eight months pregnant, but her unborn child was not injured.

About 20 minutes after the shooting, police found Camacho hiding in the backyard of a nearby house. Camacho assisted police "in trying to locate the shooter" in this case.

On May 2, 2000, police executed a search warrant for Sandoval's residence and arrested Sandoval. A red Chevrolet Beretta was parked behind the residence, and an AR–15 assault weapon, covered by a towel, was found behind the stove. Ballistics tests revealed that this was the rifle that had been used to shoot Detectives Black and Delfin.

B. Penalty Phase

The first penalty phase commenced on October 23, 2002, but the court declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The penalty phase retrial began on March 17, 2003.

i. Prosecution Case

Many of the witnesses who had testified during the guilt phase testified at the second penalty phase and described the circumstances of the crime. This testimony included information about the Barrio Pobre gang, Sandoval's and Camacho's participation in the gang, and the gang meeting just before the shooting on Lime Avenue. Detective Delfin gave a detailed description of the shooting.

The prosecution also introduced evidence of an uncharged crime in which Sandoval and Camacho killed Jesus Cervantez and attempted to kill Steve Romero at a McDonald's restaurant in Lynwood six months before Detective Black's murder. The victims in that incident were members of a tagging crew called Just Kicking It, who earlier had committed a drive-by shooting aimed at Sandoval and his gang. Sandoval admitted he used an AK–47 against the crew members to retaliate for the drive-by shooting.

As part of the prosecution's victim impact evidence, several of Detective Black's friends and siblings testified to his gentle demeanor and noted his compassion toward and desire to have children. Detective Delfin also testified to the emotional strain caused by the knee injury

he sustained during the shooting, which rendered him unable to work. His wife testified to the emotional and physical impact of the incident on both her husband and their three young children.

ii. Defense Case

Sandoval was born on August 8, 1981 to parents who had emigrated to the United States from Mexico. He was 18 years old at the time of the Lime Avenue shooting.

Sandoval's family moved around frequently and struggled to pay the bills during his childhood....