People v. Martinez, B204770 (Cal. App. 3/2/2010), B204770.
| Decision Date | 02 March 2010 |
| Docket Number | B204770. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ and CARLOS MARTINEZ, Defendants and Appellants. |
Appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. GA059086, David Wesley, Judge. Affirmed.
Ronald White for Defendant and Appellant Christian Martinez.
Chris R. Redburn, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Carlos Martinez.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Steven D. Matthews, Susan S. Kim, Susan Sullivan and Zee Rodriguez, Deputy Attorneys Generals, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Not to be Published in the Official Reports
Christian Martinez and Carlos Martinez, who are not related, appeal from the judgments entered after their convictions for felony murder arising from a robbery. We affirm.
On the afternoon of October 10, 2004 Christian Martinez, accompanied by another young woman, rented a room at a Motel 6 in Arcadia. While checking in, Christian provided her name, address and vehicle information (a white, 1991 Cadillac DeVille) to the motel manager. She was assigned room 117. An hour later, accompanied this time by a young man, Christian returned to the motel office and requested a refund. Explaining he would need to see the condition of the room before he could authorize a refund, the manager went to inspect room 117. As he entered the room, two men wearing "beanies," one holding a can of beer, were coming out of the room. Inside, the manager found the bathroom had been used by someone taking a shower. He returned to the office and told Christian he could not give her a refund. Although she appeared to be upset, she left the office. She was then seen getting into her car with a woman and a man and driving slowly out of the driveway.
An hour earlier, when the white Cadillac had first entered the motel parking lot, a man later identified as Peter Santisteven was seen walking from the car to a group of men drinking beer in the parking lot. Complaining he lacked money to check into the motel, Santisteven attempted to sell the men a cell phone. Nacho Barboza, a construction worker who was staying at the motel along with other members of his construction crew, declined to buy the cell phone but removed a $5 bill from a roll of cash in his pocket and gave it to Santisteven. The men also gave Santisteven a beer and talked with him for a few minutes. The group was interrupted by two police officers, who had received a complaint about the men drinking in the motel parking lot. During a conversation with the officers, Santisteven removed his knit cap and showed the officers his partially shaved head, explaining his girlfriend had not been able to finish cutting his hair. The officers left, and the men moved inside room 130. When Santisteven tried to follow the men into the room, one of the workers, Jose Ramirez, stopped him and asked him to leave.
Some time later, Ramirez, who was standing outside his room on the second floor, saw two men, one wearing a knit cap and the other in a hooded yellow sweatshirt, walking below him along the motel corridor. Ramirez also saw a woman he later identified as Christian Martinez get into her car with two other people and drive slowly out of the parking lot.
Meanwhile, the man with the knit cap and the man wearing the hooded sweatshirt entered room 130, which was registered to Alberto Castillo, the foreman of the construction crew. Castillo was lying on the bed watching television with Barboza, who stood by the bathroom door. Barboza recognized the man in the knit cap as Santisteven, the man with the bad haircut to whom he had given money in the parking lot. Santisteven approached Barboza and demanded the rest of his money. When Barboza denied having more money, Santisteven told him he knew he had more money and grabbed him in a headlock. At the same time, the man in the hooded sweatshirt pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at Barboza's neck. Castillo, who had been lying on the bed, told Santisteven to leave his friend alone. As Santisteven took Barboza's money from his pocket, the man with the gun turned toward Castillo and straddled him on the bed with his knee on Castillo's chest. Barboza continued to struggle with Santisteven and heard, but did not see, a shot. The two men fled the room. Barboza saw Castillo lying on the bed covered in blood. Castillo pushed himself off of the bed and staggered from the room. He then fell to the ground and died just outside the room.
A maid who was cleaning room 131 heard the shot and stepped into the corridor. She saw a young man walk out of room 130 and head toward the white Cadillac. He was followed by Castillo, who was bleeding and fell to the ground next to her housecleaning cart. Ramirez, still standing on the walkway outside his room, heard the shot and then heard screeching tires and saw the white Cadillac race through the parking lot at a high speed. The same woman, Christian Martinez, was driving the car; and Ramirez saw in the back seat the two men he had previously seen walking in the corridor beneath him. Another construction worker standing next to Ramirez also identified Christian Martinez as the driver of the car.1
A police officer directing traffic at a corner near the motel noticed the white Cadillac when it stopped at a traffic light. The officer saw three or four Hispanic males and at least one Hispanic female in the car. Because the occupants seemed nervous, he memorized the car's license plate number. Shortly after he saw the car, the officer heard a radio report describing the shooting, which indicated the perpetrators had fled in a white Cadillac. The officer called the dispatcher and provided the license number. Two days later the car was impounded by the sheriff's department, shortly before Christian Martinez reported it had been stolen. When Christian Martinez was arrested several days later, she was driving a black Nissan sedan. A search of the Nissan conducted pursuant to a warrant revealed a title certificate and registration for the white, 1991 Cadillac DeVille in the name of Christian Martinez.
Carlos Martinez was arrested a month after the murder after investigators determined he was the man in the yellow hooded sweatshirt.2 Prior to being questioned by Arcadia Police Detectives Brett Bourgeous and Bill Walton, Carlos Martinez was advised of his right to remain silent, to the presence of an attorney, and, if indigent, to appointed counsel. (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 ] (Miranda).) Carlos Martinez affirmed his willingness to answer questions; and, in a videotaped interview played for the jury, he recounted the events of the day of the shooting.3 According to Carlos Martinez, he had been picked up earlier in the day by several friends who, after hanging around together, decided to rent a motel room. They ended up at the Motel 6. Carlos Martinez admitted going to room 130 with Santisteven but gave shifting accounts of what had happened thereafter. Carlos Martinez at first said, after his group of friends had decided to check out of room 117, Santisteven invited him to go have a beer with the construction workers Santisteven had met earlier in the parking lot. Carlos Martinez went along and was surprised when Santisteven began arguing with the workers in Spanish, which Carlos Martinez did not understand.4 He intervened to protect Santisteven; and someone, not Carlos Martinez himself, shot Castillo. When Santisteven left the room, Carlos Martinez ran down and got into the waiting car.
When told by Detectives Bourgeous and Walton he had been seen with a gun in his hand, Carlos Martinez initially denied having a gun, but then claimed he had picked it up off the floor to avoid someone else shooting him. He again denied killing Castillo. Carlos Martinez then stated, "I think I need a lawyer sir." One of the investigators then replied, 5 The investigators continued, taking turns in prodding Carlos Martinez, "You want a lawyer?" "Unless you want to change your mind." Mumbling, Carlos Martinez responded, Detective Bourgeous answered, Detective Walton then offered, Carlos Martinez replied, "I changed my mind, sir." Detective Walton questioned, "Okay, you don't want an attorney now, right?" Martinez answered, "At this point [unintelligible]." One of the detectives answered, "At this point, okay, just so we understand."
Carlos Martinez immediately began talking again about the shooting. The interrogation continued for another hour during which Carlos Martinez implied he had fired a shot after being attacked by Barboza and Castillo because he feared for his life. Carlos Martinez also admitted disposing of the gun and his bloody sweatshirt and bitterly complained it had not been his plan to rob the workers in the first place:
The amended information charged both Christian Martinez and Carlos Martinez with one count of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))6 (count 1), two counts of first degree residential robbery (§ 211) (counts 2 (Barboza) and 7 (Castillo));7 one count of first degree burglary (§ 459) and conspiracy to commit a crime (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)).8 Carlos Martinez was also charged...
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