People v. Edwards
| Decision Date | 15 October 2015 |
| Docket Number | H038422. |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. MICHAEL EDWARDS, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
James S. Thomson , under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris , Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette , Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler , Assistant Attorney General, Catherine A. Rivlin and Bruce M. Slavin , Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
In 2005, 17-year-old defendant Michael Edwards and a group of friends from East Palo Alto drove to a high school house party in San José. Following an argument between the partygoers and defendant's friends, members of defendant's group fired multiple gunshots at a crowd gathered on the lawn in front of the house. A bullet struck 18-year-old Michael DeJesús in the head, fatally wounding him. This incident followed a similar shooting at a Sunnyvale party three weeks earlier in which teenager Ivan Cruz was shot but survived.
The prosecution charged defendant as an adult with four counts: count one — murder for the death of DeJesús in San José; count two — shooting at an inhabited dwelling in San José; count three — assault with a firearm upon Cruz in Sunnyvale; and count four — shooting at an inhabited dwelling in Sunnyvale. All four counts included firearm and gang-related enhancements. The jury found defendant guilty of second degree murder in count one and shooting at an inhabited dwelling in count two. The jury hung on the two counts related to the Sunnyvale shooting and returned no findings on any of the enhancements. The trial court sentenced defendant to a total term of 22 years to life.
Defendant raises numerous claims on appeal. We hold the trial court erred in two respects. First, the court erroneously excluded expert testimony offered by defendant to impeach the prosecution's gang expert. Second, the court erroneously admitted testimonial hearsay through the prosecution's gang expert in violation of Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 [158 L.Ed.2d 177, 124 S.Ct. 1354] (Crawford). Both errors were harmless, however. And we conclude defendant's remaining claims lack merit. Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment.1
In November 2005,2 defendant was 17 years old. He wore his hair in dreadlocks three to four inches long with the tips dyed blond or gold. The prosecution charged him as an adult in connection with two shootings — the fatal shooting of Michael DeJesús at a party in San José on November 25, and the nonfatal shooting of Ivan Cruz at a party in Sunnyvale on November 5. The jury convicted defendant on the charges related to the November 25 shooting of DeJesús, but hung on the charges related to the November 5 shooting of Cruz. We describe the shooting of DeJesús first.
On November 25, a group of 20 to 25 high school friends held a party at the home of Hector and Gilbert Guel in San José. The house stood on the corner of Carobwood Lane and Madrid Drive. Two or three streetlights illuminated the area. Hector asked Jesús "Chuy" Cazares-Soriano — a large, "rather stocky" football player — to "look out for the house" and make sure "nothing went down."3
Around 10:45 p.m., a large group of African-American males arrived at the party. Several Latina or African-American females accompanied them. The group included Tramel Walker, Lavell Jordan, and defendant. Later that evening, two of the African-American males got into an argument with Chuy outside, in front of the house. Many of the partygoers came out of the house to see the dispute. One of the African-Americans then yelled, "Taliban up," whereupon the group of African-Americans and the girls with them retreated to their cars parked just down the street.
Two or three of the African-American males returned from their cars wielding guns. They stood in the street in front of the house, pointed their guns toward the party, and fired multiple gunshots. One of the gunmen was an African-American male with blond- or gold-tipped dreadlocks. DeJesús, one of the partygoers, was standing in front of the house when a bullet struck him in the head. He died the next day.
Matthew Tracy, one of the partygoers, gave the most detailed testimony about the shooting. Matthew served as a Marine in Iraq and was familiar with firearms. He arrived at the party around 9:15 or 9:30 p.m. that evening. He testified that he and Chuy, with whom Matthew had played football, stood at the front door for much of the party. Chuy was "keeping an eye out," and making sure "everyone just had a good time and nothing bad happened." Matthew was "used to kind of helping out in that situation."
Around 10:45 p.m., Matthew saw a group of about 16 African-American males and four African-American or Latina females arrive at the party. They drove up in four separate vehicles, one of which was an SUV. When they arrived, they told Matthew they were from East Palo Alto and asked if gang signs and colors would be permitted. Matthew told them the party was "neutral," and he allowed them to join the party.
Matthew noticed that one of the African-American males had blond-tipped dreadlocks about three to four inches long. He wore a black hoodie, a black shirt with a white logo, baggy pants, and black tennis shoes. Matthew estimated he was 18 or 19 years old and five feet nine inches tall. Once in the house, the man with the blond-tipped dreadlocks and one other African-American male drank shots of alcohol. The other African-American male was about five feet eight inches tall and had a gold grill on his teeth.
While the two African-Americans who had been doing shots remained inside, five other members of the group walked outside. They started getting "rowdy" and throwing bottles and cans they had taken from a recycling container. Matthew and Chuy approached them and asked them not to cause any problems. They got "mouthy" with Chuy and told him to "fuck off." At that point, Chuy "got a little confrontational."
Matthew then saw two of the five African-Americans run back into the house. When Matthew turned around, he saw Chuy and some other partygoers yelling at some of the African-Americans out in the street. The African-Americans were throwing gang signs and saying: One of the partygoers responded: "Well we're from San José." Matthew thought that response was a joke based on the partygoer's tone of voice. At that point, there was a lot of swearing and loud "verbal exchanges." Many of the partygoers had come outside to see the commotion.
The group of African-Americans then began leaving the party. Matthew heard the females who were with them say, "let's get out of here," and "let's run." Matthew saw the African-American with the blond-tipped dreadlocks and one of his male friends approach one of the cars in the street. One of the males went to the driver's side of the car while the other went to the passenger side. Matthew then saw them run back to the middle of the street. Matthew was standing about 12 to 15 yards away at the time. Matthew testified that the African-American with the blond-tipped dreadlocks pointed a black metallic gun at the house and yelled, "clear out." He was holding the gun sideways at a 90-degree angle. The gun looked like a semiautomatic to Matthew because it did not have a "distinctive circular shape" like that of a revolver. Matthew saw the shooter cock it by pulling back on the slide. Matthew later told police the gun was a nine-millimeter Glock.
Matthew turned around and began running back to the house. At that point, he heard approximately three or four gunshots. Matthew believed the shots were fired from two different caliber weapons based on the distinctly different sounds they made. When he was two or three feet from the porch of the house, he briefly looked back toward the street. He saw a muzzle flash from the gun held by the African-American with blond-tipped dreadlocks. As the gunshots were being fired, the gunman was yelling: He was pointing the gun toward the porch of the house as he was firing.
Matthew saw a second African-American male standing two or three feet away from the gunman with the blond-tipped dreadlocks. Matthew testified that the second African-American was the one with the gold grill, whom Matthew had seen earlier drinking shots inside. He too had his arm extended towards the house at a 90-degree angle, but Matthew did not see him shoot a gun. Although Matthew had initially told the police he had seen a second shooter, Matthew testified that he had assumed the second man was a second shooter. He made this assumption because of the two different calibers of gunfire and the proximity of the two shooters. Matthew estimated the shooters fired a total of about 25 to 27 gunshots, but he did not count them. He had previously told police that he heard two gunshots fired by the African-American with the blond-tipped dreadlocks, and three gunshots fired by the other shooter.
After the gunmen opened fire, Matthew felt one of the bullets fly past him. He heard it make a thud as it hit a wall. He then heard a second thud as DeJesús, who had been shot, fell to the ground. Matthew tried to move people into the house. After he reached the inside of the house, he heard tires screeching as the shooters and their friends drove away. When he came back outside, Matthew saw Chuy holding DeJesús, who was on the ground and bleeding. They used towels to apply pressure to DeJesús' wound. The police arrived shortly thereafter.
Approximately five months later, the police showed Matthew a photographic lineup, but he was unable to identify any of the photos as that of the shooter with blond-tipped dreadlocks. At trial,...
To continue reading
Request your trial