People v. Mariscal

• Decision Date: 30 March 2020
• Docket Number: B262278
• Citation: 47 Cal.App.5th 129,260 Cal.Rptr.3d 571
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Michael MARISCAL, Defendant and Appellant.

47 Cal.App.5th 129

260 Cal.Rptr.3d 571

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Michael MARISCAL, Defendant and Appellant.

B262278

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 5, California.

Filed March 30, 2020

Certified for Partial Publication.^*

Paul Couenhoven, Santa Clara, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Paul M. Roadarmel, Jr. and William N. Frank, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

RUBIN, P. J.

Defendant and appellant Michael Mariscal shot at five men, killing two and wounding another, in a gang-motivated shooting. He was convicted of two counts of murder ( Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a) ), three counts of attempted murder ( §§ 664 and 187, subd. (a) ), street terrorism (§ 186.22, subd. (a)), and possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 12021, subd. (a)(1)).¹ On initial appeal from his conviction, he argued (1) the trial court erred by instructing the jury that the element of a specific intent to kill required for an attempted murder conviction could be found based on a "kill zone." He also argued (2) there was insufficient evidence to support a finding the driver of the vehicle in which defendant was a passenger was a member of defendant’s gang; (3) the court erroneously admitted evidence of the psychological impact of the attempted murder on one of the victims; (4) the court should not have imposed a parole revocation fine; and (5) the court should have awarded presentence custody credits. The prosecution argued (6) the abstract of judgment should be corrected to reflect the court’s oral pronouncements of sentence.

In our initial opinion, we affirmed the convictions but reversed the trial court’s imposition of a $200 parole revocation fine, and its order denying defendant custody credit. We remanded the matter for the trial court to amend the abstracts of judgment (both determinate and indeterminate) consistent with the opinion, and otherwise affirmed. ( People v. Mariscal (April 1, 2016, B262278) 2016 WL 1293288 [nonpub.opn.].)

Defendant sought review. The Supreme Court granted review, but deferred briefing pending resolution of the "kill zone" issue in its then-pending case, People v. Canizales (2019) 7 Cal.5th 591, 248 Cal.Rptr.3d 370, 442 P.3d 686 ( Canizales ). Upon resolution of Canizales , the Supreme Court transferred the case back to us, with directions to vacate our decision and reconsider in light of Canizales . We do so now, concluding that the kill zone instruction should not have been given, but that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt in light of the overwhelming evidence that defendant intended to kill all five of the men at whom he shot. In all other respects, we restate our original opinion without change.

BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

1. Prosecution Evidence

At about 3:00 p.m. on June 22, 2011, an employee of a property management firm located on Centinela Street, about 1.7 miles from Penmar Park in Venice, saw a Hispanic man with a slight build park a light or silver colored Volvo station wagon in the parking space near where she worked. About one hour later, Allan Mateo, Salvador Diaz, Andy Santiago, Emmanuel Vasquez, and Christian Hernandez were sitting together on bleachers at Penmar Park in Venice. None of the young men were gang members at that time but they knew gang members.

The bleachers consisted of nine rows of benches of increasing elevation, facing a baseball diamond. Four of the young men were sitting on the top row of the bleachers, with Mateo a few rows below them.

The Volvo station wagon pulled up near the park. Defendant exited the Volvo and approached the group holding his hands behind his back. He approached the bleachers from the right-hand side, near the corner where the men were congregated. Defendant asked the young men where they were "from," effectively asking them the name of their gang. Mateo replied they were not gang members. Defendant pulled out a gun, said "Culver City," and shot Mateo multiple times. Mateo grabbed his stomach and fell; he died of his wounds. Defendant then pointed the gun toward the four men who had been on the top row of the bleachers.

When defendant turned his gun toward the rest of the young men, they tried to run. Hernandez ran down the bleachers and toward the baseball field. As he ran, defendant shot him in both legs. Santiago tried to run down the bleachers, but he fell through the bleachers to the ground, and ran to hide behind some parked cars. He was not hit. Diaz died on the ground below the bleachers, having been shot in the chest. Vasquez’s actions are not clear from the record, but he escaped unharmed.

In sum, defendant shot: Mateo four times, two of which were fatal; Diaz twice in the chest, one of which was fatal; and Hernandez twice in his legs. Neither Santiago nor Vasquez were shot.

Nine .9-millimeter shell casings were found near the bleachers at the park. All of the casings were fired from the same gun.

Maritza Perez, a softball coach, heard the gunshots. Defendant lowered the gun and ran, crossing a street in front of Perez. The headlights of the Volvo turned on.² The driver of the car looked over his left shoulder in defendant’s direction. Perez saw the driver was a thin Hispanic man with short hair. Defendant ran to the car, looked around, and entered the car through the passenger door. The car drove away, but Perez was able to write down a portion of the car’s license plate number—"W229." Perez called 911.

Citing People’s Exhibit 7, defendant acknowledges the license plate of the car defendant entered was LTWY229. The car had been stolen between June 18 and 19, 2011, and defendant’s fingerprints were found on its passenger door. Between approximately 4:00 p.m. and 4:15 p.m., telephone calls were made on defendant’s cell phone using cellular towers near where the Volvo was found and near the shooting scene.

At 4:26 p.m., on June 22, 2011, the day of the shooting, defendant texted a female friend, "I love you, babe. If I don’t reply, I am busted." At 4:30 p.m., a local news website, yovenice.com, posted a story about the shooting, stating three people had been shot. Defendant texted someone, "Two men shot. One in the leg. Fox11la.com. Also on yo venice." He also texted this person, "Watch the news, bro."

At 4:53 p.m., a local television affiliate of the Fox News Network, posted a story about the shooting on its website. Later that day, defendant texted the female friend as follows: "News. Two men shot, One in leg. Fox 11 L.A." His friend texted back: "Did you shoot someone?" Defendant answered: "Don’t text like that, babe. Come on now. Just letting you know what is on and what happened."

The following morning, the Volvo remained parked at the parking space for the vacant apartment complex. The driver’s door of the car was half closed and keys were in the ignition. Perez identified photographs of the Volvo as the same car defendant entered after he shot the victims.

The police arrested defendant. After defendant arrived at the police station, he was allowed to use his cell phone. Defendant sent someone a text message, summarized by Los Angeles Police Department Detective Terrance Keyzer as follows: "[Defendant] is saying that he is going to act innocent and ask the person he is talking to, to play along because he is scared. Then [defendant] tells [the person] to erase all messages."

Later at the station, defendant told his mother the police would "never find the gun," it was "impossible" for them to find it, and it was "gone."³ Defendant’s mother told defendant the police had taken his cousin’s cell phone. In response, defendant asked his mother if his cousin had deleted "the messages," and she responded, "Yeah."

Los Angeles City Police Officer Nicholas Coronado, the prosecutor’s gang expert, testified a gang member earns "respect" by "putting in work," i.e., committing crimes. A "roll call" is a list of gang members, usually using their gang monikers/nicknames. The question "Where are you from?" is a threat or a challenge to rival gang members or the public at large that often precedes a confrontation.

Officer Coronado was assigned to the Pacific Police Station’s gang enforcement detail and specifically assigned to monitor the Culver City Boys gang. The Culver City Boys gang membership was primarily Hispanic. The gang claimed portions of Culver City and nearby areas of Los Angeles. Venice 13 or "V13" claimed adjacent areas, including Penmar Park. The Culver City Boys had a rivalry with V13, among other local gangs.

The Culver City Boys primary activities included robberies, burglaries, assaults with deadly weapons, vandalisms, narcotics sales, and auto thefts. The gang members used signs including the letters "CXC" and "CC" to identify itself and communicate status in the gang. In 2009, two Culver City Boys gang members were convicted of separate robberies.

Defendant was an admitted Culver City Boys gang member. He had a tattoo of "CC" on his hand and a moniker of "Little Poste." A Culver City Boys roll call with the name "Little Poste" included on it was found in defendant’s apartment.

Officer Coronado opined defendant was a Culver City Boys gang member and, based on a set of hypothetical facts matching the facts in this case, the murders and attempted murders were performed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with the Culver City Boys gang. The expert also opined, because the driver of the Volvo was willing to help defendant conduct the shootings, the driver "[was] either a fellow gang member or [was] at the time an associate putting in work [to] show that he was "represent[ing the] hood [ ] too."

2. Defendant’s Evidence

Dr. Mitchell Eisen, defendant’s identification expert, testified several variables could affect the accuracy of an eyewitness’s identification, including capacity limits on attention; stress and trauma; exposure duration and time passage....