People v. Garcia

• Decision Date: 22 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. S097765.,S097765.
• Citation: 124 Cal.Rptr.2d 464,28 Cal.4th 1166,52 P.3d 648
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arturo GARCIA, Defendant and Appellant. In re Arturo Garcia on Habeas Corpus.

124 Cal.Rptr.2d 464

28 Cal.4th 1166

52 P.3d 648

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arturo GARCIA, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Arturo Garcia on Habeas Corpus.

No. S097765.

Supreme Court of California.

August 22, 2002.

Maxine Weksler, Agoura Hills, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner and Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Marc E. Turchin, Acting Assistant Attorney General. Carol Wendelin Pollack and Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorneys General, Mary E. Sanchez, Darryl C. Hottinger and Jaime L. Fuster, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Steve Cooley, District Attorney (Los Angeles), George M. Palmer, Head Deputy District Attorney, and Phyllis C. Asayama, Deputy District Attorney, for California District Attorneys Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Respondent.

CHIN, J.

We granted review to decide whether convictions for two defendants must support a firearm sentencing enhancement for one of them.

Under Penal Code¹ section 12022.53, subdivision (d), a defendant convicted of a qualifying felony who intentionally and personally discharges a firearm, proximately causing great bodily injury or death, is subject to an additional term of 25 years to life. In this case, we must decide whether this enhancement applies to an aider and abettor if the shooter is not convicted. Contrary to the Court of Appeal, we conclude that a shooter's conviction is not required to impose vicarious liability. Thus, we reverse the Court of Appeal's judgment.

Factual and Procedural Background

In a drive-by shooting, Juan Fernando Galeana, a member of the Burbank Trece street gang, was shot and killed. Salvador Morales, a member of the Vineland Boys (related to the Sun Valley Diablos street gang), later bragged to his friend and fellow gang member, Sergio Arriola, that he was the shooter and that defendant Arturo Garcia, also part of the Vineland Boys, was the driver. Arriola told the police what Morales said, but later changed his story after he was beaten up. Defendant told the same story to another fellow gang member, who informed the police. At the time of his arrest, defendant admitted his involvement in Galeana's murder and later gave the police a full confession.

Both defendant and Morales were charged with Galeana's murder. (§ 187, subd. (a).) As relevant here, the information included sentence enhancements alleging that the murder was committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1) & (4)), and that a principal discharged a firearm in committing the murder. (§ 12022.53, subd. (d).) The information also included a firearm discharge allegation against defendant (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)), though he was not the alleged shooter. (See § 12022.53, subd. (e)(1).)

Following a court trial, defendant was convicted of second degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)), for aiding and abetting in the Wiling of Galeana. As to defendant, the trial court found true the allegations under sections 186.22 and 12022.53, subdivision (d). Defendant's 15-year-to-life sentence was increased by 25 years to life pursuant to the section 12022.53 enhancement. Morales, the alleged shooter, was acquitted of all charges. The evidence against defendant showed that he was not the shooter.

Defendant appealed. He argued that the People failed to prove all the elements supporting the section 12022.53 enhancement. Defendant argued that although he was an aider and abettor and not the shooter, the firearm enhancement could apply to him only if allegations under sections 12022.53, subdivision (d), and 186.22 were "pled and proved." (§ 12022.53, subd. (e)(1).) However, because Morales was acquitted and there was no evidence that defendant was the shooter, no person stood "convicted of a felony ..., and who in the commission of that felony intentionally and personally discharged a firearm and proximately caused ... death." (§ 12022.53, subd. (d), italics added.) Thus, section 12022.53, subdivision (e)(1)'s, requirement, imposing vicarious liability on aiders and abettors, was not met.

Agreeing with defendant, the Court of Appeal reversed the finding on the section 12022.53 enhancement. In order to impose vicarious liability for an aider and abettor who is not the shooter, section 12022.53, subdivision (e)(1), requires that allegations under both sections 12022.53, subdivision (d), and 186.22 be pleaded and proved. The Court of Appeal found that the section 12022.53, subdivision (d), allegation was not proved here. Although there was evidence that defendant was a principal involved in Galeana's murder, there was no evidence that either Morales or defendant was "convicted" of that murder by "intentionally and personally discharg[ing] a firearm." (§ 12022.53, subd. (d).) The Court of Appeal denied defendant's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

We granted the Attorney General's petition to review whether section 12022.53 permits imposing this enhancement on an aider and abettor only if the perpetrator has been convicted of the same.

DISCUSSION

A. Applicable statutes

Enacted in 1997 as part of the so-called 10-20-Life bill (Assem. Bill No. 4 (1997-1998 Reg. Sess.)), section 12022.53 imposes sentence enhancements for firearm use applicable to certain enumerated felonies. (§§ 12022.53, subd. (a)(1)-(18), 246 12034, subds. (c), (d); see Stats.1997, ch. 503, § 3.) These enhancements vary in length, corresponding to various uses of a fire-arm.² At issue here, subdivision (d) of section 12022.53 adds a consecutive 25year-to-life term if a person convicted of a felony enumerated in "subdivision (a), Section 246, or subdivision (c) or (d) of Section 12034, ... in the commission of that felony intentionally and personally discharged a firearm and proximately caused great bodily injury ... or death...."

Section 12022.53, subdivision (e)(1), imposes vicarious liability under this section on aiders and abettors who commit crimes in participation of a criminal street gang. (People v. Gonzales (2001) 87 Cal.App.4th 1, 11-12, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 247.) "The enhancements specified in this section shall apply to any person charged as a principal³ in the commission of an offense that includes an allegation pursuant to this section when a violation of both this section and subdivision (b) of Section 186.22 are pled and proved." (§ 12022.53, subd. (e)(1).)⁴ In turn, section 186.22, part of the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP Act), imposes a sentence enhancement or increased penalty for any person who is convicted of a felony "committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members ...."(§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1) & (4); see People v. Jefferson (1999) 21 Cal.4th 86, 100-101, 86 Cal. Rptr.2d 893, 980 P.2d 441.)

The legislative intent behind section 12022.53 is clear: "The Legislature finds and declares that substantially longer prison sentences must be imposed on felons who use firearms in the commission of their crimes, in order to protect our citizens and to deter violent crime." (Stats. 1997, ch. 503, § 1.) With respect to aiders and abettors, one Court of Appeal has observed that section 12022.53, subdivision (e)(1), "is expressly drafted to extend the enhancement for gun use in any enumerated serious felony to gang members who aid and abet that offense in furtherance of the objectives of a criminal street gang." (People v. Gonzales, supra, 87 Cal.App.4th at p. 15, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 247.) This subdivision provides a "clear expression of legislative intent" (ibid.) to "severely punish aiders and abettors to crimes by a principal armed with a gun committed in furtherance of the purposes of a criminal street gang. It has done so in recognition of the serious threats posed to the citizens of California by gang members using firearms." (Id. at p. 19, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 247.)

B. Statutory interpretation

In construing a statute, our task is to determine the Legislature's intent and purpose for the enactment. (People v. Tindall (2000) 24 Cal.4th 767, 772, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d 533, 14 P.3d 207.) We look first to the plain meaning of the statutory language, giving the words their usual and ordinary meaning. (Ibid.) If there is no ambiguity in the statutory language, its plain meaning controls; we presume the Legislature meant what it said. (Ibid.) "However, if the statutory language permits more than one reasonable interpretation, courts may consider various extrinsic aids, including the purpose of the statute, the evils to be remedied, the legislative history, public policy, and the statutory scheme encompassing the statute." (Torres v. Parkhouse Tire Service, Inc. (2001) 26 Cal.4th 995, 1003, 111 Cal.Rptr.2d 564, 30 P.3d 57; Wilcox v. Birtwhistle (1999) 21 Cal.4th 973, 977, 90 Cal.Rptr.2d 260, 987 P.2d 727.)

C. Court of Appeal's interpretation

The Court of Appeal adopted what it considered a plain meaning of section 12022.53. Because neither Morales nor defendant was actually convicted of intentionally and personally discharging a firearm, the express requirements of section 12022.53, subdivision (d), were not met. Thus, defendant could not be vicariously liable as an aider and abettor under the enhancement. (§ 12022.53, subd. (e)(1).) The Court of Appeal rejected the People's argument that "it was extremely clear that someone personally and intentionally discharged the firearm which killed Mr. Galeana, and that should be sufficient so long as the other requirements of section 12022.53, subdivision (e)(1), are satisfied."

As explained below, we disagree with the Court of Appeal's interpretation.

D. Analysis

Section 12022.53, subdivision (d), provides that a defendant who is "convicted of [an enumerated felony], and who in the commission of that felony...