People v. Ambriz
| Decision Date | 20 April 2017 |
| Docket Number | B268685 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. SAUL AMBRIZ et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA424985)
APPEALS from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Rand S. Rubin, Judge. Affirmed.
Mark Alan Hart, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Saul Ambriz.
Emry J. Allen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Andoreni Lazaro Ocampo.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey and Robert M. Snider, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
____________________ Saul Ambriz and Andoreni Lazaro Ocampo were convicted following a jury trial of second degree murder. On appeal Ocampo contends the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction and raises a number of other challenges to his conviction, including improper instructions, evidentiary error, juror misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. Ambriz argues only that the trial court improperly admitted gang expert testimony.1 We affirm.
On October 30, 2014 Ambriz and Ocampo were each charged by information with one count of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))2 with a special allegation that Ambriz had used a knife during the commission of the offense (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). Ambriz was 16 years old at the time of the offense and was charged as an adult pursuant to former Welfare and Institutions Code section 707, subdivision (d)(1) and (d)(2)(A).3
In 2014 Ambriz was a member of the "BUMS" tagging crew, and Ocampo was a member of the "H20" tagging crew. Joao Bonilla, a senior member of BUMS, and Josue Bernal, another BUMS member, testified generally regarding the crew's culture and explained BUMS members painted graffiti art ("tagging") around their neighborhood. In April 2014 there were approximately 15-20 members of BUMS. H20 was a separate tagging crew. Its members were friendly with BUMS members, and the two groups spent time together. Each tagging crew had its own territory and hand signs, and members of the groups often had nicknames or monikers by which they were known. The tagging crews also had rivals who had their own territories. When one crew encountered the graffiti art of a rival crew, its members would cross it out as a sign of disrespect and write the name of their own crew. Rival crews would retaliate in kind. Often when they went out tagging, members of the crews would bring bats or other weapons to protect themselves from rivals.
On the evening of April 25, 2014 Ambriz and Ocampo were together at Ocampo's house with approximately eight of their friends, smoking and drinking. Ambriz and at least three other individuals present that night were BUMS members, and Ocampo and at least two other individuals present were H20 members. Bonilla testified that Ocampo became agitated and upset and wanted to go out and drive around. Bonilla told Ocampo to calm down, and Ocampo turned his anger toward Bonilla. Ocampo lifted his shirt to show Bonilla a scar down the length of his abdomen, which was the result of a stabbing three months earlier by a member of a rival tagging crew. Referring to the scar Ocampo said, "Look what they did to me." As Ocampocontinued to be aggressive toward Bonilla, others at the gathering tried to calm him down, telling him to "relax." One individual told Ocampo, "[Bonilla]'s not the enemy, he's a homie." At that point Ocampo ceased being aggressive toward Bonilla, but the group was still "pumped up" and "emotional." Bonilla heard someone say they should go "lurking," which meant hunting for enemies.
In response to the lurking comment Ocampo said, "Let's go get an enemy." He and Giovanni Garcia got into a car driven by Giovanni's brother, Felix Garcia;4 and drove away. A few moments later Bonilla, Ambriz and a third individual got into a car driven by Jesse Chavez. Before everyone left the house Ambriz and Giovanni told Bonilla they were carrying knives. Bonilla felt apprehensive about following Ocampo because he thought there might be a fight, and he asked Chavez to take him home. Instead Chavez followed the car in which Ocampo was riding.
Around 9:00 p.m. Felix, Giovanni and Ocampo arrived near the intersection of Vermont Avenue and 40th Place, a location within the territory of "UTF," a tagging crew that was a rival to both BUMS and H20. Ocampo and Giovanni got out of the car and walked down Vermont Avenue, where they encountered Osmin Cerna leaving a liquor store carrying a backpack and skateboard. Cerna identified himself as a member of UTF. The three men then began to fight.
Porshallett Burney and Jonathan A. testified regarding the fight. Burney was in the passenger seat of her husband's carwaiting at a stop sign on 40th Place and Vermont Avenue. She saw two young Hispanic men, whom she later identified as Ocampo and Giovanni, walking toward a larger Hispanic man, later identified as Cerna. Ocampo and Giovanni attacked Cerna, causing him to drop his skateboard. Cerna put his hands up and said, "Why are you all attacking me?" The young men kept striking Cerna, and Cerna tried to retreat. Ocampo and Giovanni pursued him. Giovanni picked up the skateboard and swung it at Cerna. Cerna tried to defend himself and was able to knock down Ocampo, but Ocampo got up and kept fighting.
Jonathan had been in the same liquor store as Cerna. Upon leaving the store Jonathan saw two smaller men attack Cerna. One of the aggressors took Cerna's skateboard and hit him in the head with it. Cerna then began to back away from the two attackers. Jonathan did not see Cerna threaten, provoke or hit the other men.
Burney and Jonathan both testified a second car arrived several minutes after the fight began. Bonilla confirmed this was the car in which he, Ambriz and others were riding. Ambriz and another passenger got out of the car and ran to the fight. The attackers surrounded Cerna, who was on the ground, unable to get up and screaming, After another few minutes the attackers returned to one of their cars and drove away.
Paramedics arrived and took Cerna to the hospital. He died that night. The medical examiner testified Cerna had been stabbed nine times during the fight, twice in the back, once to the buttocks, once to the chest, twice to the abdomen and twice to the face. The fatal wound was the chest wound, which had pierced the heart. One of the abdominal wounds might also have been fatal if not treated.
Bernal, who had not been present at Ocampo's house or at the scene of the murder, testified regarding conversations he had with Ambriz that night and the next day. Bernal called Ambriz on his cellular telephone between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on April 25. Ambriz answered and said, Bernal spoke to Ambriz later that night, and Ambriz said they had "caught some enemies slippin'." Bernal understood that to mean they had "caught people walking down the street that we don't get along with." Around 3:00 a.m. the following morning, Bernal and Ambriz went tagging with some other friends. While in the car Bernal heard Ambriz say he had taken out his knife and stabbed Cerna during the fight. Bernal testified he had seen Ambriz carrying different types of knives on previous occasions.
On April 26, 2014, the day after the murder, someone called a BUMS meeting at Bernal's house. Bernal recalled at least seven individuals in attendance, including Bonilla and Ambriz. The discussion turned to the incident the previous night, and Ambriz stated he had stabbed Cerna twice. Bonilla also testified that Ambriz said he had stabbed Cerna and, at some point, Ocampo said he had a knife the night before, but dropped it during the fight.
Detective Armando Mendoza of the Los Angeles Police Department's criminal gang homicide division testified regarding his investigation into Cerna's death. According to Mendoza, during an interview in May 2014 Ambriz admitted he had stabbed Cerna once or twice but said he was trying to defend his friends. Mendoza also testified as an expert witness regarding tagging crew culture and behavior based on his training and extensive contacts with tagging crews. Mendoza's experttestimony confirmed Bonilla's and Bernal's first hand descriptions—tagging crews engaged in graffiti art, formed alliances and rivalries, established known territories, retaliated against one another for disrespectful behavior and graffiti, and, on occasion, committed violence against rival crews.
Throughout the trial the jury was shown video surveillance footage depicting parts of the attack on Cerna. The video recording was admitted into evidence, and the jury was provided with a laptop computer to view the footage during its deliberations.
Neither Ambriz nor Ocampo testified or presented any witnesses in his defense.
After deliberating for slightly more than one day, the jury found Ambriz and Ocampo guilty of second degree murder and the weapons allegation as to Ambriz to be true. Ambriz's and Ocampo's attorneys declined individual polling of the jury members.
Following the verdict Ocampo moved for a new trial. First, Ocampo asserted several of the jurors had committed misconduct by giving erroneous legal advice and bullying two fellow jurors into voting for guilty verdicts. Second, Ocampo argued the...
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