People v. Lewis

• Decision Date: 14 July 2014
• Docket Number: B241236
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. VINCE E. LEWIS et al., Defendants and Appellants.

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. VINCE E. LEWIS et al., Defendants and Appellants.

B241236

COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

Filed: July 14, 2014

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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. TA117431)

APPEALS from judgments of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Ricardo R. Ocampo, Judge. Judgments affirmed.

Robert D. Bacon, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Vince Lewis.

Chris R. Redburn, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Ariana Coronel.

Stephen Temko, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Mirian Herrera.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr. and Nima Razfar, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury convicted defendants Herrera, Lewis and Coronel of first degree murder and found that Herrera personally discharged a firearm in its commission. The court sentenced each defendant to 25 years to life for the murder and sentenced Herrera to a consecutive 25 years to life for the personal firearm use. We affirm the judgments.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The victim, Darsy Noriega ("Mickey"), and all three defendants, Vince Lewis ("Shady"), Ariana Coronel ("Temper") and Mirian Herrera ("Loca") are members of the Easy Riders gang. The Easy Riders are enemies of the Dead End Harpees.

On January 31, 2011, Coronel sent a text message to an unidentified recipient that stated in relevant part: "[W]e [are] kicking [Mickey] out the hood cuz [S]ilent¹ told me a HPS² in jail said she was fucking one of [th]em."

On February 2, 2011, Coronel sent several text messages to several unidentified recipients. The first message stated: "Homies from [that] ERS³ gang mando hood meeting tonight at 10 pm. Shady is calling it." The second message, seven minutes later, read: "Mickey getting the boot." The third message stated: "We're gonna take Mickey outta the hood[.] Don't say anything[.] We don't want to scare her." Coronel's next message read: "At [10] pm Mickey is getting the boot[.] [T]hey [are] waiting for me to get out of work to do this." Coronel's final message before the meeting stated: "Mickey is getting the boot out the hood."

Although the recipients of Coronel's messages were not identified at trial, the jury could infer from the contents of the messages that the recipients were other gang members or persons interested in the gang's activities.

Amy Aleman was a defendant in the case until she negotiated a plea to voluntary manslaughter and a four-year sentence. She testified for the prosecution at the trial of Lewis, Herrera and Coronel.

Aleman told the jury that on the night of the murder she attended a meeting of the Easy Riders. Lewis and three female members, Herrera, Coronel and Noriega were present along with other gang members. She knew that Noriega was going to receive a "violation" which she described as "a physical beating" and testified that "people always walk away from violations."

According to Aleman, at some point during the meeting Lewis told her, Noriega, Herrera and Coronel to come with him to buy beer. The group went to a liquor store where Lewis and Coronel bought the beer. After the group left the store, Herrera, who was eight months pregnant, said she needed to urinate. Lewis did not head back to the house where the meeting was taking place, which was only a few minutes away. Instead he drove around looking for a private spot and eventually parked on a street next to an alley. Herrera, Aleman and Noriega got out of the car. Coronel and Lewis remained inside. The three women walked down the alley. Aleman was in the lead. Herrera and Noriega were walking behind her.

As Aleman was walking down the alley she heard gun shots behind her. She turned around and saw Herrera shooting Noriega. Aleman estimated there were "a lot" of shots, "probably like seven." She ran back down the alley past Herrera and Noriega's body and got into Lewis's car. Herrera also ran to the car and got in. Lewis drove back to the place of the meeting. Upon their return Herrera told Aleman, "It had to be done. Mickey was in other hoods."

One of the Easy Riders drove Aleman home after the meeting. He told Aleman to get rid of her clothes because they might contain gun powder residue. Aleman put her clothes in a plastic bag and either Lewis or Coronel stuffed them down a storm drain. The police recovered the clothes based on information Aleman supplied them with.

Responding to a call from a neighbor, the police found Noriega's body in the alley shortly after the shooting. Noriega died from multiple gun shot wounds. The pathologist who examined her body estimated she was hit by approximately 10 bullets which struckher throat, left abdomen, left arm and mid-lower back. A forensic examination found that all the bullets were fired from the same semi-automatic handgun.

The day after the murder, Coronel sent text messages to a person identified as Adriana describing Noriega's murder. Coronel stated in part: "Hey, Mickey is dead. . . . Like we took her last breath dead. . . . Yeah she[']s dead[.] [W]e didn't rush her or nothing[.] [W]e just gave it to her. . . . The potbellied/pregnant one [Herrera] and the other who is barely pregnant [Aleman] got out with the RIP to supposedly take a piss in the alleyway near 111th St. . . . I stayed in the car with [Lewis] because obviously me and the RIP . . . don't get along so the RIP would have smelt it. . . . And the potbellied/pregnant girl go[t] the nine and shot her all over her body. Then from there they got into the car and we got the fuck out of there. . . . I wanted to do it but it w[as] gonna b[e] to[o] ob[v]ious [and] she felt comfortable with both of [th]em so it w[as] [c]ool."

Coronel had another text conversation with an unknown person later that day. The conversation went as follows, beginning with the unknown texter. "So how did it go yesterday?" "Good. . . . She[']s gone." "But did you guys hit her?" "Yup[.] [S]he[']s dead."

In some of her text messages after the murder, Coronel told the recipients, "Erase the t[e]xt," "[e]rase the text pl[ease]" and "[j]ust don't say anything."

The following month police arrested an Easy Rider gang member, Gilbert Mendoza, on a probation violation. Mendoza told the police that he had information about Noriega's murder. When Mendoza took the stand under a grant of immunity, he swore he could not recall anything that happened at the meeting or anything he told the police. He did testify, however, that there is a difference between a "violation" and "getting taken out of the hood." "You can walk away" from a violation, Mendoza explained, but if you're "taken out of the hood," you don't walk away from that.

Mendoza's recorded statement to the police was played to the jury.⁴

Mendoza stated that on the night of the murder he was at a meeting of the gang called by Lewis. The purpose of the meeting was to discipline Noriega for violating the gang's rules against fraternizing with rival gang members. "I knew that Mickey was going to get a violation," Mendoza told the police. Mendoza gave varying descriptions of a "violation." At one point he agreed with the interviewer that "a violation is essentially a physical beating"; that they are "common"; and that "people get violated all the time" and "walk away." Later, however, Mendoza said that a violation could involve a shooting or a stabbing. Mendoza said that at the meeting he asked Aleman if "the guys" were going to participate in carrying out the violation. Aleman told him, "Nah. This is just for the females."

He also stated that during the meeting Lewis said he and the women were going out to buy beer. Mendoza observed that the gang had beer there. Lewis and the women were gone 30 or 40 minutes and returned to the meeting without Noriega. No one commented on her absence.

When the meeting broke up, Mendoza was with the group that dropped off Aleman. He said that one of the gang members told her to change her clothes and give them to him because they might have gunpowder on them. The police found Aleman's clothes at the location Mendoza named.

Winston Lee, a Los Angeles police officer, testified as the prosecution's gang expert. Lee stated that in general a gang meeting is required to decide whether a member needs to be disciplined and only one person in the gang, the "shot caller," can call such a meeting. Lee testified that the Easy Riders have only one "shot caller" but he was not asked, and did not volunteer, that person's name. Lee further testified that within a gang it's "a big problem" if a member is socializing with a member of a rival gang. According to Lee, "A person who socializes with a rival gang member, usually [ends] up eitherbeing beaten to the point of death or killed" depending on whether the gang considers the violation a minor one or a major one. The more serious the violation, the more times the violator will be shot.

Lee also testified that based on his experience it was his opinion that Noriega's murder was committed for the benefit of the Easy Riders. He admitted, however, that he had never before heard of the Easy Riders killing one of its own members.

A jury found Lewis, Herrera and Coronel guilty of first degree murder and found that they committed the murder for the benefit of the Easy Riders gang. The jury also found that Herrera personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing death. The court sentenced Lewis and Coronel to 25 years to life in state...